Originally Posted by Warskull

As some of you may be familiar with, the previous incarnation of tombs has be renamed and moved to the battle isles. The new tombs is now a PvE area where you fight through four maps to kill 3 bosses at the end who drop a number of green items (you are likely to see 3+ green drops also.) This area cannot be solo farmed with any traditional solo farming build and needs to be more carefully approached to ensure success.

The reason this area is different from others is due to a new skill a number of the monsters have. "Finger of Chaos" is a skill unique to this area at the moment which has an affect based upon your class.

Warrior: Applies a condition with each attack (always blind or cripple)
Ranger: Attacks cannot be blocked or evaded.
Elementalist: Each attack interrupts.
Necromancer: Each attack removes a hex from the attacking monster.
Monk: Each attack removes an enchantment from you.

These take both your primary and secondary into account. Thus a W/R will be affected by blind and cripple every time he is hit and in addition be unable to block or evade the incoming attacks. An Ele/Monk will be interrupted each time he is hit and in addition lose an enchantment. For this reason it is important to note that there is no drawback for being a mesmer. As a result of this you may need to change your secondary class. For example no one should run a monk secondary unless they absolutely have to. Thus you should look at your build and determine what skills from your secondary you really, really, need. If you do not need secondary skills you should change your secondary to mesmer as it is the best possible secondary to run down there.

For Warrior: W/E and W/Me are the only remotely possible options. Being a W/Mo means no enchants will stick (thus no seeds or protection), being a W/R completely nullifies your stances, and being a W/N will make any hexes your team has (such as spiteful spirit) useless.

For Elementalist: You must play an E/Me down there. There is a very large amount of interrupts and the only way you have a realistic chance of getting off a spell is running an anti-interrupt stance. The E/Me will be bounds above every other possible ele combo (unless you plan to stay in back and just spam heal party as an e/mo.)

For Monk: You should play somewhat back and avoid being attacked. However you do not want to run a Mo/W. If an enemy sneaks past your warrior or a stray shot hits you, being cripple prevents you from escaping. Mo/E would be another very poor choice, however Mo/R or Mo/N should be workable.

For Mesmer: You get to choose the lesser of evils. Ranger secondary will probably end up hurting the least, however you should be able to work with Elementalist or Necro secondary if you watch your positioning. In addition you can use fast casting and anti-interrupt stances to counteract the elementalist penalty. If you are comfortable without enchants Me/Mo can work also.

For Necromancer: I would really suggest an N/Me due to the heavy amount of interrupting you will run into. At the same time an N/R should be easily workable and N/Mo if you choose to play without enchantments.

For Rangers: I would suggest R/Me more than anything else. The ranger penalty is fairly harsh and you are somewhat likely to draw agro as a ranger thus making the warrior, ele, and necro penalties quite undesirable. R/Mo can again work if you are willing to go without enchantments, but the swap to R/Me is easy and you probably weren't using much of your secondary anyway.

Originally Posted by Warskull

For Rangers: I would suggest R/Me more than anything else. The ranger penalty is fairly harsh and you are somewhat likely to draw agro as a ranger thus making the warrior, ele, and necro penalties quite undesirable. R/Mo can again work if you are willing to go without enchantments, but the swap to R/Me is easy and you probably weren't using much of your secondary anyway.

Originally Posted by Divine Elemental

Hey Warskull..
I hate the New Tombs... ALthough Your Guide Seems To Make Sense
Be Ready For a Spike Team Again
( 2morrow That is D: )

Originally Posted by saphir

i love the new tombs!
finger of chaos is an awesome skill hehe. so evil and so needed =)

ah, so that's why i couldn't remember what finger of chaos did to mesmers.

hope the new hard hitting chaos mobs + dream riders + terrorwebs will teach players how to pay more attention to their surroundings, when to cast enchants, and how to stay back!

Originally Posted by Karmakin

Good guide.

I suspect that in order to "farm" this area with any speed, you'll need a full balanced team. No tricks here.

I suspect that what will be needed is several monks, probably healing and prot, an interrupt ranger, (Fingers of Chaos actually takes a second or two to use..countering one..or more could be essential.), and enough power to take them down quick. Spread out so Energy Surge doesn't cream you, and be careful.

Originally Posted by Manic Smile

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Originally Posted by Banebow

And so we are back to five man farming groups

I say, put a ranger spike group together. Should be able to drop groups of enemies very fast, and plow through the area faster than the five-man groups. It is all about the speed remember, the sooner you get through the sooner you can get a green! Or not, since there are eight of you, but hey, whatever!

Thanks for the info Warskull.

Originally Posted by Manic Smile

Really???

http://static.flickr.com/40/88824556_987fd999e7_o.png <----CLICK THIS!!!


http://static.flickr.com/38/88824557_df44931027_o.png

it's not uber fast but it's not really any slower then the full parties i've had