Curse

Faith Angelis · Aug 20, 2007, 10:16 AM // 10:16

I've just hit indomitable, and working on legendary... Starting in factions if you do all the quests on Shing Jea after levelling yourself to around level 9 (Which you can do easily right outside the monastery) you should hit level 20 just about the time you get to Kaineng Center ready for your max armour.

Going on from level 20, I've been farming the animals in the menangerie (sp? lol) in Minister Cho's Estate - in Hard Mode with a scroll clearing the menangerie will get you 10,000+ exp in ten minutes or so.

The best tip a survivor could get, imo, is to stay on the ball - if you're tired, bored or lagging play another character!

Good luck!

Athrun Feya · Aug 20, 2007, 10:26 AM // 10:26

I recently got a sin to Legendary.

Got to Survivor (1) in Cantha, after doing it so many times you know the danger zones (which i think are explained on unofficial wiki). This is probably the easiest, as long as you don't mind afflicted.

To get to Indomitable Survivor (2) I did about half of Factions and half of Nightfall. Quested a bit, and caught a number of elites in the process. Basically, using my A/Mo Sin as a monk [

zealous benediction as elite of course] and going Hero/Henchway for all missions.

After that, started Jade Knight Runs, theres a detailed thread about them somewhere on this forum showing all builds and how it works. Gives a bit of leeway if you're prone to loosing connection like i did around 1250,000exp ;p

Melon · Aug 20, 2007, 11:11 AM // 11:11

I'm running around with a warrior and tanking at 1,4k max HP with Olias as MM. Have a constant 900 HP with the emergency boost of 1,4k. Works pretty good sofar, i'm just doing quests/missions/elite caps/scrolls.

But if you don't get LS before GWEN don't go there untill you have LS because you will die there no doubt since it's all new and you never know..

Vamis Threen · Aug 20, 2007, 11:59 AM // 11:59

I got Legendary Survivor at about fifth attempt.

I'm only replying because I saw the OP asking for a HM build. A cookie-cutter build isn't the answer, stick with a build and class you know well. Ranger or Paragon is ideal I think, although I did mine on an Ele. Monk might sound pretty sweet but remembr that a human monk calling targets in the midst of henches and heroes will always always be the enemy AI's priority target, and you can always take monk as secondary.

Other advice:
Never play with humans
Don't play if you're lagging
Don't leave it to the last moment to log off if you're getting thrashed - when you log back on you'll be dead
Play thru the campaigns slowly, using a build you have previously used successfully
Get the best armor, weapons, and runes you can
Avoid Vizunah Square and other very dangerous missions, quests, and bonuses
Don't try to go to Elona until you are level 20 (remember you have to fight torment creatures to get there)
Read through the wiki so you know what you'll be facing in each area
Don't rely health buffing enchantmnts if there are necros or mesmers who can strip them
Cap all the elites that are safe to get
Do all the safe repeatable quests
You can farm Whitman's repeatedly for XP with a five-man team in NM; beware minor lag can cause you to get trapped in the trees at the bottom of the valley on the server, while appearing not to on your PC
Take scrolls

Finally, attempting LS on a 55 sounds pretty insane to me.........

noblepaladin · Aug 20, 2007, 01:09 PM // 13:09

I got legendary survivor on my Paragon quite easily, I wasn't even going for it. I used the "god-mode" build (There's Nothing to Fear + They're on Fire + Save Yourselves). I played many of the missions on hard mode too with just hench and heroes. I finally died in Domain of Anguish after I had 1.4 mil exp. I got a good chunk of my experience skill capping during a double exp weekend for caps a few weeks ago.

There is a Survivor farming build mentioned by someone earlier that is very safe, a hero bonds you and you just run out and kill 6 Jade Brotherhood Knights in HM. I never tried it, but I hear that you can get Legendary Survivor in something like 10-15 hours if you are willing to spend gold on the rare experience scrolls. It is very safe: there is no risk of mis-clicking or getting interrupted. You cast the bonds before you run into combat.

Suuk · Aug 20, 2007, 01:23 PM // 13:23

<------
As you can see I almost got there... Dont know if it was lag or impatience. Anyway, I died capping an ele skill in Jade Sea. It was a Canthan char, ranger. I believe several weekends after I died there was a weekend with double XP per skill cap. If only I had waited...

Now with the HM and heroes I am trying again. This time as necro and I am almost indomitable. Hope to enjoy a double XP skill cap weekend (although chances are slim- there was one last month?)

General rule: no lag and no humans. Period.

Patrick Smit · Aug 20, 2007, 02:23 PM // 14:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by higaru

Patience, ranger is the best.

Do not leave pre before ur lvl 12 (i made it to 16 without dying), in post it should go on smoothly.

If you have factions then have a guildy or friend run u to LA, by that time you would have already got ur primary Survivor title, then i traveled to cantha, also with a good guildy, u can fill up ur xp bar fast with 4000xp easy quests! don't forget to buy ur canthan armor (max protc.)

I find it ok to share my monster xp with a friend (my brother as a monk really helped me), rather then dying and regreting everything @ a later stage. it only takes more time but that's fine since there is no place for mistakes....

USE SCROLLS they r helpfull and boost ur xp bar fast. keep ur hand on ur map and if it gets bad just jump back to the nearest town and restart; that saved me many times.

Good luck...

I don't see how ranger outclasses paragon, 96/96(+5/10) versus 70/100, plus shouts and the like can do so much more on survivability and damage potential of the team.
[skill]barbed spear[/skill][skill]spear of fury[/skill][skill]"go for the eyes!"[/skill][skill]anthem of fury[/skill][skill]save yourselves[/skill][skill]there is nothing to fear[/skill][skill]"fall back!"[/skill][skill]aggressive refrain[/skill]
barbed spear can be dropped easily, and eventually save yourselves could be dropped for other stuff, for example some dehex against antishouts. Using survivor insigs u are hardly ever attacked.

Torqual · Aug 20, 2007, 02:45 PM // 14:45

There is no quick or easy way to Legendary Survivor any more and, if you try to take one, you'll end up in a mess.

Like everything in life there is a tradeoff between risk and reward. For example you could try to do it by solo-farming on Hard Mode and get more XP but I wouldn't recommend this!

My Ele is a Legendary Survivor and she got it simply by playing through Missions and Quests in order, between all three campaigns, and capping every elite I could. 5000xp per elite is a fairly fast gain and you can go for Skill Hunter titles at the same time.

By the time I'd hit 1337000xp I'd reached:

Ember Light Camp in Prophecies
Arborstone (Mission) in Factions
Venta Cemetary (Mission) in Nightfall

...the character was a Prophecies character.

Like people say above - use Heroes, use a Minion Master hero, stay on the backline so you can run. If in danger....MAP out of the area. Don't go hitting exit or anything else which the server may interpret as a disconnection... imagine your hero standing there taking a pasting while you *think* you have logged off.

Final thing....the time you will die is probably from a mixture of snare and degen. So make room in your build for self-heal, blocking stances, condition removal, even if it blunts your attack and makes your build less fun to play. You may only need to use these ONCE in the whole career of your Survivor (or never if you're really good) - but the of them like the Nuclear Deterrent. Also watch out for Hydras in the Crystal Desert. I got hit by 4 meteors at once, and it's a good job my Ele had 600 base health as it's the closest she came to dying.

Jack A Roe · Aug 20, 2007, 03:10 PM // 15:10

In addition to all the great advice here so far, don't forget you can ascend in Tyria with characters from any continent for a reasonably easy 50,000 XP-a nice chunk-which I have taken full advantage of on my Survivors. The only requirements are (someone correct me if I'm mistaken) do not do the quest "Hunted" in Elona (the Sunspear Sanctuary quest, 1st one on mainland), and do not do the Nahpui Quarter mission in Cantha, as these will count as your ascension, thus not getting the 50k from your Doppleganger. A "Desert Tour" from Amnoon will cost around 300g a stop, and the 3 desert missions are easily hero/hench-able if you're just a bit careful.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

Vamis Threen · Aug 20, 2007, 04:04 PM // 16:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick Smit

I don't see how ranger outclasses paragon, 96/96(+5/10) versus 70/100, plus shouts and the like can do so much more on survivability and damage potential of the team.

True, but paragon is midline, while a ranger with a long-bow is behind the backline. But yeah, both are great for directing heroes/henches, and I'd go for either, choosing the with which one I had most experience. I did it on an E/Mo however, not because it's exciting, but because thats the class I know best.

I would also go for it now, before reconnects get reintroduced. A survivor left on the server when the player d/cs= no survivor.

wajj · Aug 20, 2007, 05:29 PM // 17:29

My first try at LS was a Canthan necro who I managed to hide behind a wall of minions most of the time. She died in Naphui Quarter in a PUG (which I entered because I got impatient and didn't wait for guild members) at 263K. I then took her and made her a legendary cartographer. This helped immensely with my next try as I had seen and done everything.

Second try was an Elonan ranger. She made it to Legendary Survivor without doing many of the tricks you have seen above. Couldn't do some of them, Hard Mode didn't exist until she was at around 800K XP. Ran her through all Elonan missions up to and including Gate of Pain (but not Jennur's Horde or Dzaghunor Bastion), Canthan missions through Sunjiang District, and Tyrian missions between Seaboard and Sanctum Cay. I did want to see how many sunspear protion points I could get (pre-HM) so I cleared Arkjok Ward 3 or 4 times under bounties. Did some LB point farming outside Bastion and got up to lvl 3. Did every Canthan quest I could lay my hands on (kept Seek Out Brother Tosai and Drunken Master incomplete as long as possible though). Capped around 50 elites as well but didn't make an elite push until I was at about 1.2M XP.

Found out a lot of things (many of which are mentioned above):

1. If you are like me, F12 (or Alt-F4, or mapping to the guild hall) might be your friend but you might feel your title is cheapened. I only mapped out once. Wasn't in danger in the mission (Selbelkah) but was halfway through the fight and I realized I had not reallocated my attribute points correctly when I changed my build and was with heroes and henchmen so I wasn't affecting anyone else. And, since I did get Legendary Survivor without mapping out, I really dislike people who claim that the only thing the title shows is the ability to press F12 followed by Y.
2. Do not, and I repeat, do not play with PUGS.
3. When playing with guild/alliance groups, point out that you are going for survivor. When I did that, I would go into missions and quests feeling like I had a bodyguard.
4. Plan on playing with heros and henchmen a lot. Get used to directing them. Use Ctrl-Shift-Space to send them in first. Flag them into spots where you know enemies will trigger. They are seven additional weapons to use if you use them correctly.
5. If you can, choose a monk secondary, carry protective spirit and a live rebirth. Keep protective spirit up any time possible -- don't count on the monks to do it for you. If you can't choose or don't want a monk secondary, make sure you always have some kind of self-heal on you.
6. Equip your armor with Survivor runes and best best Vigor rune you can buy. Have a +30 HP weapon mod. Do not use any major or superior runes. Goal here is to have the highest health possible (obviously) because the AI will attack lower armor/lower health first.
7. Always make sure you have a retreat path. Often, getting sandwiched between two groups will mean serious trouble if not death.
8. If you are unfamiliar with a mission or an area, take another character through it first if at all possible. Find out what happens first with a similar setup to what you will encounter with a survivor.
9. Solo farming is generally a bad idea -- good for XP farming but a bad idea for a survivor. There are no 100% foolproof solo farming builds (that I am aware of or perhaps I don't have enough practice with them) and all it takes is one slip up to end your run.
10. Finally, spend money on your survivor, don't try and cheap out on armor, runes, or weapons. Always have the highest armor level you can buy. Keep buying insignias and runes to boost your health. Have the best weapon you can get -- honestly fortitude mods are better than armor mods if for no other reason so you can survive damage spikes and still run away.

Now I am working on an assassin. She's still a survivor at 165K and rolling through Tyria (when I feel like playing her

). With luck I'll eventually have another legendary soon.

ShadowbaneX · Aug 20, 2007, 05:37 PM // 17:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by October Jade

I do, however, disagree with the idea of being run to Lion's Arch for armor. It is risky to put your character's life entirely in the hands of someone you do not know well. If you have a trustworthy guildmate or whatever...fine, give it a shot. I prefer to take it slow and finish off every last quest in existence. I last arrived in LA at level 16, in a much better position to continue than if I had been run.

I kinda have to disagree here. It takes what? 6-7 hours to get up to level 7 or 8 in pre-sear? Not too much time invested if your runner screws up and gets you killed. And besides the advantage of the max armour and the high level heroes over low level hench is increadable. Having Koss, Sousuke and one of the monks keeping you alive and taking the brunt of the damage helps alot. It's even less of a no brainer if you know a good runner or have a guild mate that can run you. You can hedge your bets a little by being the party leader and keeping them with you.

It isn't too risky taking all the quests and leveling that way, but to me it's less of a risk of just getting a run...although, I highly trust my guild mates, and those would be the ones who would give me the run, so perhaps I'm biased.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack A Roe

In addition to all the great advice here so far, don't forget you can ascend in Tyria with characters from any continent for a reasonably easy 50,000 XP-a nice chunk-which I have taken full advantage of on my Survivors.

Actually, this isn't the case any more. When my LS (Paragon) went through, she did this, right after the release of hard mode. I didn't do it in hard mode, but during that update they changed it to just a mission and bonus like any other, so you only get 2000 xp, not 50000.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick Smit

I don't see how ranger outclasses paragon, 96/96(+5/10) versus 70/100, plus shouts and the like can do so much more on survivability and damage potential of the team.
[skill]barbed spear[/skill][skill]spear of fury[/skill][skill]"go for the eyes!"[/skill][skill]anthem of fury[/skill][skill]save yourselves[/skill][skill]there is nothing to fear[/skill][skill]"fall back!"[/skill][skill]aggressive refrain[/skill]
barbed spear can be dropped easily, and eventually save yourselves could be dropped for other stuff, for example some dehex against antishouts. Using survivor insigs u are hardly ever attacked.

Paragon is probably the best class for survivor, but the op said that he didn't want to make a paragon. With that option gone, ranger is probably your best bet. My build with P/W with Survivor inscriptions, all over the place. Major Vigor (I had one laying around). Spear Crest of Minor Spear. Minor Leadership. A couple of Vitae runes. A Furious Spear of Defence and Sunreach's Shield. With all of this, I was up over 600 HP. Armour is just over 100. My build was, and still is actually:
Spear of Lightning, Barbed Spear, Cruel Spear, "There's Nothing to Fear!", Anthem of Flame, "Watch Yourself!", Aggressive Refrain,i Sunspear Rebirth Signet. 10+1+1 Spear, 11+1 Leadership, 10 Tactics. You've got nice damage output, bleeding, deep wound and burning for conditions. Watch Yourself is sorta the lynch pin of the build though as it turns adrenaline into energy, allowing you to keep up Anthem of Flame and "There's Nothing to Fear!" and to keep using Spear of Lightning. Also the addition 18 armour is nice as well.

Jhadur · Aug 20, 2007, 07:49 PM // 19:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShadowbaneX

Actually, this isn't the case any more. When my LS (Paragon) went through, she did this, right after the release of hard mode. I didn't do it in hard mode, but during that update they changed it to just a mission and bonus like any other, so you only get 2000 xp, not 50000.

If you'd already done the "Hunted" quest in Elona then you're already ascended and don't get the 50k xp.

I ascended my sin in Tyria 2 weeks ago and got the 50k xp bonus so I know it's still there.

She went on to get Legendary Survivor by taking lots of chances Shadow Form farming the monolith temple in HM

With scrolls was working out about 60k xp every 40 mins or so

Not the safest way to do it as noticing monoliths still coming towards you after jumping out of the fight as SF runs out is not fun.
50hp is never a good number to be on

My Sweet Revenga · Aug 21, 2007, 01:14 AM // 01:14

If you really wanna play it safe, don't do Vizunah Square mission. I've always been paranoid about doing that mission since there's been several reports that the cutscene death at the end (or untamed minions) even when skipping the cutscene will add a death to your count. Many say it doesn't happen, but I met a guy trying for legendary survivor after Vizunah Square mission, and he suddenly started cussing and swearing and freaking out because he just found out he got a death and he didn't know from where. He had about 250k left for legendary too. Basically if you wanna play it safe, you don't wanna mess around in Cantha too much since certain bosses in cantha can spike you to death in a matter of seconds. I got Legendary Survivor on my dervish without doing vizunah square so it is possible.

Taurucis · Aug 21, 2007, 01:28 AM // 01:28

I'm currently making my Nightfall mesmer a leg survivor... and hell, the going is slow.

10 hours, and level 18 x.x

I've done a bit of the Jade Brotherhood farming... haven't touched skill capping... any more suggestions? o.o

Cass · Aug 21, 2007, 08:23 AM // 08:23

My advice is to just play through the campaigns. Not because it's easy or hard, but simply because when I did that, it was the best PvE experience I've had.

I've always liked to progress through the storyline, doing bonuses and sidequests and such, but doing all that while trying to stay alive really makes it so much more engaging. I went from completing Tyria to Cantha and reached Legendary somewhere near the end of Kurzick lands. I did get a few heroes along the way at some point (Olias, Zenmai, Koss if I remember correctly), when they were introduced. They are a big help, compared to the ineptitude of the vanilla henchies.
On that note, I agree that you should avoid human players (PUGs most of all), but there are exceptions to this rule. Some missions pretty much require human help to complete and/or get the bonus/master's reward. I did several particularly nasty missions with trusted friends/guildies, and that was also a great experience. So, don't throw your life away to random fools, but trusting a few friends to play with you and your survivor is really nice too; definitely worth it.

I would also recommend playing a class you like, and that you will want to play after you've reached the goal. What's the point of having some ultra-defensive class that you don't like playing just to get this title on?

Cebe · Aug 21, 2007, 12:41 PM // 12:41

Best piece of legendary survivor advice ever would have to be: Know when you're beaten.

If you're in a battle, and an unnervingly high number of players are being killed, it's time to leg it. Of course it's all down to judgement, and it can take time to learn. When I was going for legendary survivor I stupidly decided to chase some stupid children in the Rising Suns quest....Ibogas stuck Conjure Phantasm and Imagined Burden on me, while every other foe hit me for about 5-10 damage while I chased the child. I came out of it at the end with about 10 health to spare when Conjure Phantasm stopped. If something doesn't look worth the risk - it isn't. I really should have fought them all with hench but thought I could chase after the child.

Well I did manage Legendary Survivor first time round on my Ranger, after which, I went hunting wammos:

Playing through the campaigns ahead of your survivor character is also important so you know what's coming up. Knowing what was ahead, I planned to stop at Abaddon's Mouth, Unwaking Waters, and Gate of Madness missions because I deemed them to be too risky. As it happens, I managed to complete Factions without dying, which I did after I gained the title...but knowing what might be too risky is very important. The Old Girl, Kuunavang, can be a little unpredictable. So...

Rule Number 1: Don't Take Risks

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenix

Don't pug, they ALWAYS fail.

Rule Number 2: Never Trust Humans.

Point of Note: Guildwiki mentions bits and pieces about Legendary Survivor, and points out quests of note. A few which come to mind are Befriending the Luxons / Kurzicks, and Raze the Roost, all of which give you 10,000XP. Granted, you have to pay some corrupt minister 2k for Raze the Roost, but it's an easy 10,000XP.

ShadowbaneX · Aug 21, 2007, 01:19 PM // 13:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

Point of Note: Guildwiki mentions bits and pieces about Legendary Survivor, and points out quests of note. A few which come to mind are Befriending the Luxons / Kurzicks, and Raze the Roost, all of which give you 10,000XP. Granted, you have to pay some corrupt minister 2k for Raze the Roost, but it's an easy 10,000XP.

About Raze the Roost, it's an easy 10k xp if you watch out for Orosen. He's a channeling rit boss that has slain more then it's fair share of people, even in normal mode.

Voltar · Aug 21, 2007, 03:57 PM // 15:57

First of all, Han will have that shield down...We just need to give him more time! (awesome avatar).

What I did was make a character with the profession I knew best and pretty much used the build I play on my main. I also started a Prophecies character to get as many skills for free as possible (saving the cheap buys for cap sigs). I played to the desert to get the 2ndary prof quests (doing all the lame quests on the way) and capped all prof's skills.

Then I just kept going and played through the 3 games. If you have all of them, you don't need to farm anything (except elite skills I guess). I don't even think I finished them all either.

BAM Legendary Survivor.

jiggerjay · Aug 21, 2007, 06:36 PM // 18:36

i am on 400k atm, i have not ever achieved legendary defender.... due to my bad tactics.

heres my tips, it will get you to level 20 relativly safely.

start in prophecies.
whilst in pre searing get to about level 7/8 through missions (i would not recommend doing over the gate as there are some level 5-8 people in there, and if you are not a good healer.... you may die!)
then when you get out of presearing, get a run to lions arch.
pay/ask for help with sunspears in kryta
obviously get the level 15 heroes unlocked, and do the basic missions around kamadan (should take you to level 10.)
then go back to prophecies and do mission + bonus and side missions up to yaks bend, should get you to level 15.
then from there get to factions from lions arch, with your by then level 17-18 heroes.

and do many of the questts around the city in about an hour you will be level 20.

i am slowly working through the prophecies campaign (i am a ranger) i have tried this a few times now.

i am close to the desert, and by the time i finish that area i should be on 500k