Curse

Fuzzy Taco · Feb 24, 2008, 11:14 PM // 23:14

The Big Necro Farming Guide!

I. Intro
A. Me talking
B. Template Codes, Equipment, and the like
II. Tyria
A. Ascalon
1. Old Ascalon
2. Nolani Academy (Mission)
B. The Shiverpeak Mountains
1. Anvil Rock
2. Deldrimor Bowl
3. Griffon's Mouth
C. Kryta
1. Scoundrel's Rise
2. North Kryta Province
3. Nebo Terrace
4. Watchtower Coast
D. The Maguuma Jungle
1. The Falls
E. The Crystal Desert
1. Diviner's Ascent
2. The Scar
3. Skyward Reach
4. Vulture Drifts
F. The Ring of Fire Islands
1. Ring of Fire (Mission)
III. Eye of the North
A. The Far Shiverpeaks
1. Ice Cliff Chasms
2. Jaga Moraine
B. Charr Homelands
1. Dalada Uplands - Sacnoth Valley
2. Cathedral of Flames
C. Asuran Territory
1. Riven Earth - Raptors
2. Verdant Cascades - Vanquish

hey everyone!

as some of you know, i wrote a 55 necro guide a while ago, and for some reason, the original post disappeared. Instead of reposting the old guide (which MisterB was courteous enough to save for me) i decided to make a new one - one that wasn't limited to 55ing. hopefully, this guide will provide the Necromancer community with plenty of farming builds/spots to farm for a while. (you'll note the lack of pictures in this guide - a lot of people were annoyed by the large loading times on my thread, so pictures are now links to putfile. not to mention that i can be more in-depth with words than i can with pictures.)

before we get to the farming, i'd like to say a few things, especially how to get started on 55 necromancy. 55ing is easy for people who have had a lot of practice with it, but if you're new to it, don't immediately hop into the Fissure of Woe then come to me saying you've "wasted" 10k. First, i'll start with the VERY basics: getting your health down to 55. first, you'll need a set of armor (i know, right?) the LEVEL of the armor ONLY MATTERS IF YOU'RE USING SPIRIT BOND. that part is capitalized for a reason. If you are going to use the builds i use (the ones with Spirit bond) then YOU NEED 15 ARMOR LEVEL ARMOR. you can get this from Shing Jea, Kamadan, or Ascalon. If you are NOT using Spirit bond, then the level of your armor DOES NOT MATTER. please excuse the caps lock, but i just get asked that question WAY too much. as for getting your health down to 55, you'll need a necromancer superior rune on each piece of armor. yes, there are only four different necromancer superior runes. you'll need a
duplicate in there somewhere, usually Blood because i think they are the cheapest at the moment.

now, on to your weaponry. weapons for a 55 necromancer are really a personal preference. the only mandatory thing is the -50hp cesta from the Cities of Ascalon quest. as for your main handed weapon, this is where you can get creative. some people prefer a Totem Axe, because it's easy to get, cheap, and works fine. others, like myself, prefer a spear (i use the Spirit of the Forgotten) to make it easier to pull things that have broken aggro. still some others prefer a wand, for more damage and the ability to pull better without spending a weaponset. it's up to you!

here are the template codes for the builds, as well as their names, which i will use in the guide:

basic 55 Spoil Victor:OANEQsJN+KVPASoFdDqCpPIPISA
Spoil Victor/Insidious Parasite:OANFQsF314jT9AkoF3DqQ9h8QkA
basic 55/SS:OANFQiFH34rT9AkoF3D5B9h8QkA
55 SS UW build:OANFQiFH34rT9AkoFZD5B9h8QkA
55 SV UW build:OANFQsJX04rT9AkoJYDqQ9h8QkA
55 SS FoW build:OANFQiFH34rU9AIhW0N4eQeg+g8A
600 nec for Cathedral:OANCY8zU9wdlW0NIKj+A9QIB
smiter hero for cathedral:OwAS4YIHpskREf5TeAUm
SV build for Charr (a big thanks to CE Devilman!):OAVFEJx1Y5F0bwSgK0NYVlYQkQJA
Totem Axe necro build:OAdDUsx3QKg3gTBlM4ByBahTQA
Minister Cho's Estate solo:OANFQcFm04rU9AIhWkYwNoKk8gIB
600 Necro for Nahpui:OANDYzxPT1D3VaR3gFO6D0DhEA
Smiter hero for Nahpui:OwQCQszRKvDKxX+kHNlJ
Mount Qinkai Solo:OANFQsJX04rT9AkoFZDqQ9h8QkA
Byzzr Wingmender solo:OAVEIIxmcKpC9HcGoBUEcD+GEGA
SV Reduction farm:OANDQsNPP1j76KJT0GUhyj/B
SS Reduction Farm:OANEQiJH/8UPurrE2weIPIP+HA
Solo HM Glacial Stone farmer:OANFQiFH34rT94uuSAJ5B9h8QkA
Nolani solo:OANEQihH/KVPcXtSoFtHkHQTKPA
Necro HM Raptors:OAZDYTyLTuDxlJDsDoC8Qwl5iA

here's my putifle album - all sorts of farming pics are in there, have yourself a time: Clickiecakes

my intro being over, on to part 1 of the guide: Tyria! (and Eye of The North, too!)

Ascalon

Ascalon City is the worn out, burned down city that you make your way into after the infamous Searing. though a bit charred (pun intended, zomglol) the city still retains its beauty in my eyes for one reason: you can farm right outside!

I prefer to use the basic 55 SV or SV/IP build here, but i'll use basic 55 SS sometimes. 55 SV makes killing the bosses easier, and also makes gargoyles/devourers/aloe seeds easy as pie. Anyway, with the 55 SV build, just run around and kill any and all Hulking Stone Elementals you can find. the bosses, Flint Touchstone and Cobble Poundstone, fall easily to SV. you can also kill gargoyles: you just need to watch for Degen from the Shatter 'goyles (who, ironically, don't have Shatter Enchant) and knockdowns from lightning surge, cast by the Flash 'goyles. Devourers are dealt with easily, just kill the warriors first, as they have Skull Crack. If they charge it and get it off on you, you'll probably die. Plague Devourers are also high priority targets, as they can cause some serious degen via Virulence. Aloe Seeds are another foe you'll run into - they're obnoxious popups with Signet of Judgment and orison spam. if one spawns without you seeing it, it'll probably kill you with SoJ, so keep your eye on your radar.
the last enemies you will see are Grawls. Grawl Ulodytes are the annoying healers, they have Healing Hands and Orison spam. you can kill small groups of grawl warriors without monks, but that's about it. drops here include Granite and proph golds, like Hand Axes. difficulty is medium. (P.S. if you haven't gotten enough of Hulking Elementals from this farm, you can also find around twelve more outside of Serenity Temple in Pockmark Flats, easily killable with basic SS/SV.)

Another farmable area in Ascalon that becomes nice around the holidays is Nolani Academy, the mission, in Hard Mode. load up the very specialized Nolani solo template, and hit Enter Mission. cast Balth's Spirit and Watchful on yourself, then pull the lever to make all the Charr come in. hit "I Am Unstoppable!" thengroup up all the warriors so that there is a wall on their left, and your right. nuke them all with SS. once they're dead, move on to the casters and the boss. keep up IAU! as much as possible, and when it goes down, start dodging Meteor Showers. everything should die rather quickly, then you can just resign and go again. it's a great run for elite tomes and charr carvings.

The Shiverpeak Mountains

the next run we'll hit is Anvil Rock and its minotaurs, outside of Ice Tooth Caves.

for this run, SV + IP is my favorite build. however, 55/SS and basic SV will work fine. basically, you run out into anvil rock and kill any and all minotaurs you see. eventually, you'll run into some Shiverpeak monsters, who are pretty easy to take down - the monks are a bit annoying. DO NOT attack Frostfire Dryders, as they will Shadow Strike you to hell and back. There's also a Minotaur boss there, but he's simply called "Minotaur." he's level 27 with a yellow aura, and you can kill him easily with SV for a chance at a leet warrior tome. difficulty here is VERY easy, but the drops aren't that great.

the next area i'd like to talk about is Deldrimor Bowl. this place is done with SV/IP build, and i have solo vanquished it in 1 hr 15 minutes. basically, you run around and kill all of the Shiverpeak monsters you see. The Rangers have Distracting Shot, which they can seldom time accurately. your #1 priority should be the monks, as they are the obnoxious healers of the groups. most of the time, the monk won't attack you on aggro. at first, you'll need to kill a warrior or ranger or two. when the monk starts attacking you, hex him with SV/IP, which will kill him rather quickly. run through the area and kill any and all Shiverpeak monsters, including bosses (you might need to die at some point to get rid of all the morale boosts you'll get.) you can also find a small cave with some Snow ettins inside - they're very easy, but you need to look out for the Knockdowns from Devastating Hammer. once you are finished farming in Deldrimor Bowl, you can zone into Griffon's Mouth and kill any and all ettins in there, too. Griffon's Mouth can also be solo vanquished, but the warrior ettin boss may take a while thanks to heal sig spam. drops here are pretty good, not very good skins, but a lot of golds. difficulty is medium.

Kryta

i'll talk about Kryta as a whole next, as there are a few places you can farm here. since we're going in order, i'll start with Scoundrels' Rise. i like to go in here with SV/IP, only because i will usually zone into Griffon's Mouth afterwards. All i do in this zone is kill all of the Mergoyle Wavebreakers and regular Bog Skales i can fine, then zone into Griffon's and kill some more ettins. this is a very short, relaxing run. drops are decent, but nothing amazing. difficulty is certainly easy.

next is North Kryta Province, but not a regular NKP.... it's DNKP! i have recently rediscovered the awesomeness of farming this place in HM, and killing all of the titans during the Defend North Kryta Province quest. i like basic SS in that zone, but SV would work too. run around and kill any and all titans you see - some things to look out for: Water Born Titans have Maelstrom, which is pretty easy to dodge. Also, Wild Growths cause Poison and turn into three lesser titans - Earth, Wind, and Water - when they die. Earth Born Titans should be saved for last, as they are great energy batteries with their leet stone daggers spam. Rotting Titans have Lingering Curse, so facing them is a bit more tricky. when you see a rotting titan, you need to run up to him, cast SS + IP, then let him use Lingering Curse. IMMEDIATELY after he casts it, put up Prot Spirit again, then Healing Breeze. he'll kill himself on SS+IP, and when he does, RUN AWAY. you won't be ready for the Wild Growth that will spawn. Drops in here are great, as i get a ton of gold armors whenever i actually get the motivation to do a run here. difficulty is easy-medium, if you do it right.

our next spot is here by popular demand - Nebo Terrace, outside Bergen Hot Springs. The Rangers + other undead mobs in there are easy with a basic SS build, with IP + Spirit Bond to manage your health while degenerating. kill all of the rangers, the Grasping Ghouls, Skeleton Sorcerers, Necrid Horsemen, and what have you. you probably won't be able to kill the monks without a cover hex, as they use smite hex. if you use Suffering somewhere, you should be able to kill them, however, i don't think it's worth it. drops in here are meh, since it's botted 24/7. some gold dead bows here and there, but dead bows aren't worth anything, as we all know. difficulty is easy-medium.

this next spot is short but sweet, while yielding a few nice drops. the area is Watchtower Coast, leaving from Divinity coast. load up the 55/SV build, but make one important change: bring shielding Hands over Spirit Bond. these guys lay a lot of traps, and, if you're not careful, you'll get spiked hard. kill any Oakhearts you see, as well as those obnoxious Spined Aloes. look out for the tengu with Shatter + interrupts. this run is short and relaxing. while yielding only decent drops, it's mind-numbingly easy.

The Maguuma Jungle

like i said, this guide won't be limited to 55ing... so we'll put the 55 armor down for a minute. now it's time to do one of the most profitable farms in Guild Wars: the totem axe run, necro style! load up the Totem Axe farming build and hop in!

the best way to farm Totem Axes as a necro is certainly as a Minion Master. once you get an army of minions rolling in The Falls, things begin to die. hard and fast. i chose that particular build because it has adequate healing in the form of AotL and regen, while also being easily able to kill your first few foes to get some corpses. i like to run to the Falls with Dash and AotL, then run to the boss spider group - it's right before you get to the area with Totem Axes. pull that boss group so that you can hide safely behind a wall, and nuke them with Putrid + Necrosis. there might be a troll or two - that's fine, just kill them first. once you clear that group, start making minions, and start running around and killing some Root Behemoths! the minions should make everything pretty easy. try to spike Life Pods with Putrid + Necrosis+ minions. Skale will strip AotL, and so will Wind Riders - the healing from it ending should offset the damage from their enchantment stripping skills, though. the build i posted is very adaptable - as long as you have minions, some damage, healing, and running skills, you can farm Totem Axes.

Check out this build page for more info about the run, albeit from a different perspective.

The Crystal Desert

well, dust off your 55 equipment, time to take it for a spin once again! on to my personal favorite farming area, the Crystal Desert!

55 necromancers can farm a good fraction of the Crystal Desert, and i'll start with my favorite farm spot of all time - Diviner's Ascent (HM, of course!) in Diviner's, i like using basic 55/SS. there are a lot of Sand Drakes, which aren't dangerous at all and die extraordinarily quickly. your biggest worries are Rockshot devourers - they have Distracting Shot, which hurts if it hits an important skill. to protect your precious skills, you need to bait out their interrupts by using Essence Bond, Mending, and Balthazar's Spirit as D-shot food. if you group them up correctly, a Rockshot group will die in 1 SS. watch for traps when picking up drops, make sure you have spirit bond + prot spirit up to catch the huge trapspike. other monsters you'll see here are Scarabs: thanks to the nerfs to chilblains, they're painfully easy. Rock Eater scarabs are a joke - SS eats them. Jade scarabs are only slightly tougher - cover your Protective Spirit and kill them with SS + IP, no problem. the Scarab bosses and the Sand drake bosses can all be taken down, as can the hydras you'll run into further in. you can also kill Sand Wurms, if you can spawn them without dying. they'll die eventually to SS, but their drops are bleh. drops here are nice, with plenty of golds and collectables that stack up fast. difficulty is easy - medium. i still love this place the most, of all the places i farm.

A couple of other places you can farm in the desert are the Scar, Skyward Reach, and a little bit of Vulture Drifts. i prefer SV/IP for these spots. In skyward reach, you can run outside and kill any and all hydras you see. hydras are easy, all you need to do is watch for meteor knockdowns and you're set. while in skyward reach, there are also some groups of enchanted, plus some Desert Griffon groups. Desert Griffons go down like a sack of potatoes, but enchanted are a bit tougher. the rangers have Dazed, so i'd get them first. the melees aren't much of a threat. once you've killed as much as you like in Skyward Reach, you can then zone into the Scar for more Hydra / griffon farming, or you can go into Vulture Drifts to kill the first few groups of Griffons, Sand eles, and minotaurs. Sand eles are a bit tricky because they spam shock, so it's tough to time for. however, with good use of spirit bond, you will have no problem owning face. you can easily zone between these three areas and come bag with an inventory full of golds - i've done it before. the desert has always been a magical farming place for me, and i've loved it ever since the 55/SS elona reach minotaurs back in the day.

The Ring of Fire Islands

the final place i'll mention in proph is Ring of Fire, the mission. this mission has been farmed a lot by people hoping for mursaat hammers, and i figured i'd include it, as i farm there from time to time. load up your 55/SS build, and enter the mish. wait for the Dwarven guy to die, in Hard Mode he gets nuked fast. run in and kill the three groups of Jade Armors + Jade Bows - it's pretty straightforward, just look out for KD's from Devastating Hammer. quick warning about this one, though: it's damn hard to do if your 55 armor isn't infused, as you're at max degen constantly, if the damage doesn't kill you. drops are iffy, but you do get the rare mursaat hammer / mursaat hornbow. difficulty is easy/medium, runs are very short and repetitive.

well, that's it for Tyria! it looks like it's on to a quick segment about EotN and a few farm spots i like in there, then we'll move to Cantha.

Eye of the North

Eye of the North seemed to be built with 55s in mind. there are balanced groups to deter us, and it's a bit tougher to solo, but will that stop us? hell, no!

The Far Shiverpeaks

the first spot i'd like to visit is Ice Cliff Chasms. throw on either your 55/ss, Sv/IP, or 55 SV build and go nuts. Ice Cliff Chasms has Snow Wurms, which are so easy to kill it's stupid, as well as mountain Pinesouls and mountain Aloes. these guys drop just like Oakhearts and Spined Aloes of old. you can play around with other groups, but i really only farm the pinesouls + aloes, as everything else is pretty tricky. you can kill select groups of eles with no problem, but that's about it. i've found this to be a fun little area with some alright drops, while also being crazily simple to farm.

this next area is a bit tougher to farm, but it's really fun if you like screensful of pretty numbers. we'll be farming the Spectral Vaettir in Jaga Moraine. Load up the solo HM Glacial stone farmer, and leave from Longeye's Ledge into Bjora Marches. run through that entire zone without aggroing anything, and zone into Jaga Moraine. from there, cast your maintained enchants, and start aggroing Vaettir. keep up EITHER SoA or Shielding, Prot Spirit, and Healing Breeze AT ALL TIMES. if you don't, you die. once you've aggroed a healthy amount of Vaettir, group them up with a wall on their left, and your right. hit SS, and autoattack to trigger Clumsiness while keeping up enchants. SS will overpower Ether Feast, and they'll die. great run for mez tomes, golds, and obviously Glacial Stones.
Charr Homelands

courtesy of CE Devilman, here's another great spot for EotN farmers: Dalada uplands. load up the SV build for Charr mentioned at the top, and follow his well written instructions in this thread. a big shoutout to him for his profitable find!

if you think soloing just the charr rangers isn't enough for you, we can solo quite a bit more down there. load up a Spoil Victor build, but i need you to add a very strange skill... take out necrosis for Supportive Spirit. you can kill foes under 55 health by wanding them to death, but supportive spirit is required if you want to kill Tumbled Elementals, which are a somewhat big part of the run. follow my mapped path through Dalada Uplands, killing any charr rangers by hiding behind rocks and SVing them to death, as shown in CE Devilman's thread. you'll also run into Molotov Rocktail - kill off the rangers that spawn with him, then nuke him (the rangers have D-Shot and traps, look out.) there are two more groups of Charr rangers before you zone into Sacnoth... you can hide behind yet another rock to kill these guys, too. finally, you can zone into sacnoth Valley to begin the real run. follow my mapped path and kill the one Charr Bladestorm hanging around. avoid any grawl groups with priests - they're tough. if you followed the route correctly, you'll run into a large group of tumbled elementals. maintain PS, HB, and Supportive Spirit here. kill them off with SV, and be sure to autoattack so they don't scatter. once they're dead, kill the few grawl groups and a couple more tumbled elementals. afterwards, you're on to the BURNING FOREST OF DOOM! (rawr.) this place is actually very easy. the only condition you have to contend with is burning, which Spirit Bond can easily outheal. the only thing you need to be careful about are magma blisters - they're not a threat, but be very careful not to cast while they have Mark of Subversion on you - that'll kill you in one cast. just tank those out by precasting enchantments before aggroing. besides Mark of Subversion, they're pushovers. kill 'em with SV. kill any flowstone elementals and ardent spirits you can find with SV as well. finally, you'll get to Borguus Blisterbark's group. these guys are pushovers too. kill them all with SV. after he's dead, you can finish clearing out the forest if you like, for more money. this run is pretty easy, and medium in length.

finally, i'd like to touch on a very popular farm spot for Necro primaries: Cathedral of Flames. everyone knows that 600/smite can run Cathedral, np. but how well does a necro fare? well, let's find out! load up your 600 nec build, and set up Ogden with the smiter build, and get ready for more reading! (as if you haven't done enough already!)

you'll need 600 armor for this run, meaning 15 Armor Level armor, but with NO SUPERIOR RUNES this time. we want to keep our health as high as possible. A Soul Reaping hat + minor rune is nice, but not required. same goes for a vigor rune. as far as weaponry goes, a Totem axe + prot offhand will work perfectly. Ogden needs two superior monk runes - sup divine on his hat, sup smiting somewhere else. now, equipmentwise, you're set to go!

you guys have read enough already, and i've written enough already, so i don't want to rewrite what others have already written time and time again. i highly suggest searching around for the details of the run. the way your build works is simple: Spell Breaker comes from Ogden - you tank things and kill them with Reaper's Mark and Necrosis spam. also, having Soul Reaping REALLY reduces downtime between groups. i'd be happy to add more detail to this section if it becomes popular, otherwise i'll leave the details to people that undoubtedly have more experience with Cathedral than I.

Asuran Territory

Asuran Lands offer a few rather interesting spots for a necro primary to obliterate. The first one i'll talk about is undoubtedly the most overfarmed - Raptors!

load up the Raptor farming template and zone into Riven Earth. grab the blessing, then run to Raptor cave. precast Armor of Mist, Mental Block, and Glyph of Concentration, in that order. run around, getting hit often enough to keep up Mental Block, and aggro as many raptors as possible, including the boss group. hit Mist Form while under Glyph, then hit Magnetic Aura followed by Glyph and Sliver. hit AoS after Sliver, THEN hit the standard, and things will start dying. recast enchantments and standards as they recharge - use Glyph on Sliver and Mist Form to make sure they get up. runs are between 2 and 3 minutes, and it's amazingly easy after a bit of practice.

If you liked 600/Smiting Cathedral, you'll love Verdant Cascades. load up the 600/Smite templates for Cathedral on yourself and Ogden, and go nuts. you can clear the whole zone in about an hour and a half - the Quetzal drop loads of collectables, which salvage into loads more feathers. the bosses and enemy density make for a lot of golds, as well as loads of asuran rep.

FINALLY! we're done with the tyrian continent as a whole! yay! now...... on to Cantha! hooray!

Fuzzy Taco · Feb 24, 2008, 11:15 PM // 23:15

IV. Cantha
A. Shing Jea Island
1. Sunqua Vale
2. Panjiang Peninsula
3. Kinya Province
4. Minister Cho's Estate (Mission)
B. Kaineng City
1. Nahpui Quarter (Mission)
2. Xaquang Skyway - Vermin
C. Kaineng Outskirts
1. Pongmei Valley
D. Echovald Forest
1. Melandru's Hope
E. The Jade Sea
1. The Halcyon Job (Quest)
2. Maishang Hills
3. Silent Surf
4. Mount Qinkai

ah, the beautiful (and sometimes not so beautiful) continent of Cantha. Factions was a pretty controversial campaign when it came out - some loved it, some hated it. i'm pretty impartial to the campaign itself... but i love the farming spots it has to offer!

Shing Jea Island

Shing Jea Island is a beautiful farming refuge for us necromancers. 55 necros can have a field day here, and they can also make a pretty good profit. the first farming spot i'll share with everyone is Sunqua Vale.

Sunqua Vale is probably the first explorable area any canthan-born character will ever visit... and we can farm the hell out of it. load up and kind of 55 SV build (SS won't work here because Kappa have Kappa Shell) and jump right in, after leaving from Shing Jea Monastery. The first thing you'll notice is some Mantids - kill them with SV, they're easy. head west and kill all mantids and kappa you can find. also, feel free to kill Zinjuu Lifecrawler for a chance at an elite monk tome. if you keep going very east towards tsumei Village, you can kill the naga that you find too. this is a medium length run, yielding some decent drops. it is incredibly easy.

Map of the run.

the next farming spot that i adore on noob isla... er, Shing Jea, is Panjiang Peninsula. load up an SV build again (no SS here, thanks to the huge amounts of kappas) and exit from Tsumei Village. destroy any and all kappa groups you see with SV, and head south to Raiyan Cave, aka Naga Cave. kill every naga in there with SV, there's really nothing special in here to look out for except for a few popup groups that give you plenty of time to cast prot spirit before they kill your face. (just kidding, they'll only kill you if you suck.) feel free to run around in the Peninsula and kill more naga and kappas. runs can be short or long, depending on how much you kill. it's a super easy, relaxing run.

the next area you can farm on Shing Jea Island is Kinya Province. this is another easy, long run, which seems to be a recurring theme here at Shing Jea. the monastery really knows what they're doing - they even make farming a peaceful, tranquil experience. anyways, load up another SV build (guess what, there's kappa here too) and head out of Ran Musu Gardens. kill all the mantids you see with SV (and IP if you brought it.) you'll soon see a boss, Tahkayun Tsi. he's an assassin, and dies superfast to SV. nice chance at leet assassin tomes. after that, just keep on running around and kill all of the kappa on Onghsang island, as well as any naga you see later on. this is another long, relaxing run that is great for the chi.

the final area i'll talk about before i shut up about Shing Jea is not really an area at all - it's actually a mission. Minister Cho's Estate, to be exact. load up that minister Cho's estate solo build, and enter mission. as you can see, there's a pretty wierd skill in there for 55ers - Consume Corpse. this is your "get rid of Togo free" ticket. fight through the mission up until the part where Togo and Yijo get all fascinated with the tree. at that point, hug the wall where the Lost Boy was, and use Consume corpse to get over to the other side. from there, kill your way up to the next gate (the special boss-ish guard you have to kill also goes down like a sack of potatoes btw.) once at the next gate, precast Prot Spirit, then use CC to get to the other side. one of the groups of guards will attack you, the other won't. kill the attackers with SV, then you'll need to deal with the stationaries, who are easy as hell. just stop maintaining your enchantments, and use SV to fuel Necrosis spam on the nubs. keep on moving through, killing all sickened guards you see, until you get to the animals. the sickened animals are destroyed with relative ease, but then you'll get to the mixed sickened groups. the scribes and servants are the obnoxious casters of the groups - the warriors fall easily. Servants have Spirit Burn, which will cause some annoying degen, so i kill them first. Scribes are easy with their Flarespam. keep on running through until you find the minister, then get ready for the short, short end battle. he animates Vamp horrors first, so you have plenty of time to put up PS after the cutscene. SV will eat him, and fast. ta daaa, mission over.

Kaineng City

Kaineng is the home to the glorious Nahpui quarter Mission, home to Star Blades, Star Sentinels, Star Lights, and lots of Feathers an Celestial items. load up your 135hp nahpui quarter build, and now read on as i tell you the long, arduous steps to attain 135hp. step 1: get a staff with +30 hp. step 2, you're done. use that staff with your 55 armor, and you'll magically have enough hp to last 2 Nightmare Weapon hits. you have Spirit bond for the rest. now, enter the mission, and head wherever to start. killing is pretty simple: vs. Blades/Sentinels, SS/IP target foe to make them die. when the Lights show up, however, it gets a teensy bit harder. Star Lights have two Weapon spells at their disposal, and it's important to know this: they have wailing weapon and nightmare weapon. sure, the build is designed to handle Nightmare Weapon, but there's a quick, easy way to make sure it isn't thrown around as much. hit your Space Bar. autoattacking will make them favor Wailing weapon over Nightmare weapon, meaning they'll use it less, meaning easier kills. as far as actually killing them goes, group them up near a sentinel or blade, SS on the physical attacker, IP on the Light, then Necrosis spam the Light to death. i've killied groups with two lights, but it was a pain. this is a medium-hard run, as you need to time Spirit bond to not die, and you need to remember to AUTOATTACK!

the other spot i'd like to mention is Xaquang Skyway, for Vermin slaying. load up your N/D build, and bring a friend or a hero to bond you. (if the bonder is a hero who can't bring Air of Superiority, just bring anything. that last slot matters none.) with this team build, verminslaying is ridiculously easy. keep your enchants up, and SS + IP + Enfeeble liberally. they die, you get loots. Shreader's group can be remotely tough, but not really. a fantastic source of celestial weps here.

Kaineng Outskirts

I thought Kaineng Outskirts was a pretty cool name for Pongmei Valley... is in in Echovald, or is in in the Jade Sea? it's a gray area, but it's a very profitable gray area, so who cares? load up an SS build (SV is slooooow here) and jump right in. there's a few things i'd like to note really quickly: Barbs does A TON of damage. watch out for it, and be liberal when you're spamming SB. anyways, back to the run. you'll see some echovald creatures when you spawn, including stone scale Kirin, Dragon Moss, and Undergrowths. they die quickly to SS, but, as i said, look out for Barbs. run around and kill some echovald creatures - if you head south, you'll find a couple Warden rangers who die pretty quickly to SS as well - just watch for traps while getting drops. finally, if you head east a bit, you'll see a few groups of Jade Brotherhood. Knights, Mages and Ritualists are no problem, as long as you position the knights next to the rits or mages for SS batteries. Mesmers are a pain, but will go down eventually. they interrupt like crazy and remove your hexes, so i wouldn't bother. if you get a ritualist + mesmer group, forget it. just skip that group. when you get to Xuekao, you're in for a rough ride if you do it wrong. if you just run in and aggro him, the Barbed Signet spamming necros will eat your face. what you need to do is watch this video: LINK HERE. it shows you how to pull him without dying. Thanks to NAME HERE for that very helpful video! if you go further, you can see the Am Fah Cave, as i call it - a little roofed structure with a few groups of Am Fah in it. kill the two Am Fah sins on the bridge, then swap to your 105/135 equipment to deal with Barbed Signet. other than that, the necros are easy, and the sins are a joke. once you're done with that, avoid the afflicted groups and run east to find some yeti groups. nuke them with SS + IP, just watch for the traps when picking up drops. in the Southeast corner of the map, you'll find Arrahhsh Mountainclub, with some Yeti friends. he dies pretty quickly to SS/IP, and a chance for a bleh green / elite war tome. this run is LONG, but only medium difficultywise. very rewarding, as i'll end up with a full inventory and around 4-5 golds per run.

Echovald Forest

I only listed one area here... Melandru's hope. however, there is more than one way to farm Mel's hope. my personal favorite is SV/IP, leaving out of Jade flats (Kurzick). Pariah Hellfire turned me on to this spot, and i love it. load up SV with Necrosis and hop in. first, when you spawn, head dead west down the big wooden ramp. you'll see Salke fur Friend's group... they're a scary bunch. avoid them and head down the flight of decrepit stairs on your right, where you'll see Chkkr Brightclaw all alone, and a group of echovald creepies. kill off the melees in the echovald group (i.e. Stone scales / Undergrowths) and, while using the Dragon Moss as an energy battery, pull Chkkr with a long/flatbow. he dies, albeit slowly, to SV and Necrosis spam (it can take a few minutes, as you need to exhaust his energy.) when he bites the dust, kill off the Dragon Moss, and head south. kill off any Echovald baddies you like, but look out for Gakis. if you see one, hide behind a wall, and lure it within casting range so you can kill it without worrying about its scary spirits. this run is pretty short, while being medium/hard because of Barbs and megahealing from Chkkr.

As i said, there's another way to farm Melandru's hope - this one is considerably easier and faster. load up your Byzzr solo build, and exit into Mel's hope. take a hard left, and you'll find Byzzr sitting in his alcove. hide behind a wall and hex him up with everything you have. Shatter his healing Breeze if he gets it off, and use Necrotic to pick up drops. fast and easy, and not too bad profitwise with the chances at leet monk tomes and scrolls and such.

The Jade Sea

The Halcyon Job quest is a very lucrative, fast farm for necro primaries. load up the SS reduction farm build, and head out of Zos Shivros channel. make sure your quest is on. run on the mapped path and watch for the luxon sin popups. when they pop, cast PS + Shielding Hands and wait for em to tank you. cast SS + Suffering on the group, and watch three of them die. kill the straggler with IP. kill all of the popup groups like this until you come to the popup group of six. SS them per usual, keeping Shielding Hands or Shield of Absorption up at all times, then use Suffering. it should take two casts of SS to down the group. once you get to the boss, run up the bridge, aggro him, then run him into a corner so you don't get aggro from the oncoming mobs. kill him with SS+IP. this is a short, easy, and profitable run.

Maishang Hills is another short run that is pretty good for the wallet. load up the SV reduction farm template and leave from Gyala Hatchery. you'll see a few groups of Kappa - destory them with SV + Life Siphon + Vamp Gaze. always alternate Shield of Absorption and Shielding Hands. once you clear out the kappa, head west into Stsou Swiftscale's group - cast PS and Shielding, then run through the mob to behind the big rock past the group. at this point, they can't hit you, so stop maintaining your enchantments and nuke the rangers with SV. ta-da! your run is over! this is another short, easy, and pretty profitable run.

The next area i'll numb your mind with is Silent Surf, the domain of Miella Lightwing. load up SV/IP and get ready for some knockdowns. avoid the Irukandji and Creeping Carp mobs, and run straight to the Dragon groups. nuke them with SV + IP, and try to time for knockdowns - it's really hard, because they absolutely spam Gale - but keep at it and you'll start killing them. kill Miella after you kill the KD spammers. a short, medium length run that gives you a chance at leet monk tomes.

ok, i'm almost done, i promise. i'm only going to make you listen to one more area: Mount Qinkai for Yetis. Head out of Aspenwood Gate Luxon with your Mount Qinkai build loaded up, take a hard left, and kill any Yeti + bosses you see. look out for traps while picking up drops, as well as the monk boss's Withdraw Hexes, which you cover for with suffering. Told you i'd make it brief! I really can do it!

woot! done with Factions! only one full campaign left before i can stop boring you to death!

Fuzzy Taco · Feb 24, 2008, 11:16 PM // 23:16

V. Elona
A. Istan
1. Plains of Jarin
2. Zehlon Reach
3. Fahranur, The First City
4. Issnur Isles
B. Kourna
1. Arkjok Ward
2. The Floodplain of Mahnkelon
C. Vabbi
1. Resplendent Makuun
2. Vehjin Mines - Holdings of Chokhin
3. Hidden City of Ahdashim
D. The Realm of Torment
1. Domain of Secrets

Welcome to Elona, a continent where gold flows generously into the pockets of us crazy necro farmers! I suppose we'll start with Istan on our farming escapade.

Istan

The first area in Istan is Plains of Jarin - it's immediately outside Kamadan. there's a great amount of farmable stuff in here, so let's load up a 55/SV build and get prepped for a long, easy run! as soon as you exit from kamadan, grab the bounty and start killing plants. Ibogas go down fast to SV, but will throw Crippling Anguish and Imagined Burdn onyou, so they're slow going. Jacarandas are elementalist plants with Lightning Surge. Surprisingly, Ibogas are more important to kill. Lightning Surge is super easy to time for if you're paying attention, and kiling Ibogas first means less degen on you later. after you kill your fill of plants, you'll run into Suneh Stormbringer's group. that's a lot of Lightning Surges, but they're not all that scary. see if you can pull the group apart a bit and break 2 or 3 off from the main group. if you can, kill them off. if you can't, get ready for a lot of Airspikes. your main priority is killing off everything but the boss, as the boss doesn't have Lightning Surge, even in HM. you can tank out their spells + wand attacks with PS, HB, and a well timed Spirit Bond (right before Lightning Surge's KD.) once you've cleared Suneh's minions, kill him off for a chance at a leet ele tome, a noob green, or other great prizes. after that, you're on to bugs. there are plenty of bugs you can kill here: Juvenile Bladed Termites. Bladed Termites, Stalking Nephilas, and Preying Lances. these all go down very quickly to SV, and are generally not a problem. eventually, you'll get to a grassy area where Hassin Softskin and his group like to hang out. kill all of them with SV as well, but watch for the popups behind him. they have a lot of straight-up damage, so spirit Bond is your friend against them. keep clearing any bugs/plants you see. (be sure to avoid mandragors, as Imps are painfully hard to kill if you accidentally aggro them. eventually, you'll reach the water in the north and west portions of the zone. there are a fw skale and a lot more bugs here, as well as some drakes. SV eats them all for breakfast. once you've cleared all but the mandragors, your run is over. this run can be really short or really long, depending on what you want to clear out. it's stupidly easy, while also producing a nice profit.

The next area i'll bore you with is Zehlon Reach. you can kill a whole lot of stuff in here, too. in order to kill Grub Lances, you need SV, Necrosis and a highish sunspear rank (at least 7.) otherwise, you can run Dark Pact in place of Necrosis, which makes killing Corsairs a bit easier. Exit from Jokanur diggings and grab the blessing from the scout, and get ready for some dead monsters. Insects are easy, except the monks, who can take a few minutes to take out. to deal with monks, use SV and spam necrosis on recharge until they die. and i repeat, bug monks are tough little bastards. keep at it for a minute, and they're dead. for speed purposes, you can simply skip groups with monks. anyway, the nxt thing you'll run into (hopefully) is a skale group. these guys are quite easy to take down, the only scary thing is Disease from the necros, but that's not a big problem at all. there is one random Rinkhal Monitor at one point in the run, and taking him down is similar to how you will kill corsairs later on. he has Signet of Removal, which means SV won't be on for long. If you brought Dark Pact, take him down with just that. if ou're stubborn like me and brought Necrosis because you forgot you'd be facing this, (>.<) then you need to cast SV and queue Necrosis immediately afterward. if done correctly, he'l either take damage from SV, Necrosis, or both. you'll need to do that a few times to kill him, but he definitely dies. Since i set myself up for it, time to tell you about corsairs. Dark Pact is your friend vs. these guys, as you can take them down with DP alone. if you brought Necrosis, then you'll need to SV and Necrosis them, hopefully before Smite Hex eats SV. a couple tips i've found to deal with Corsairs if you brought necrosis: the monks dont attack sometimes, if that's the case, use the SV + Necrosis spike to kill off any rangers / necros, THEN they'll attack you. once they are attacking you, target them, and watch for Banish. once they use it, wait for the icon to disappear. when it does, cast SV + Necrosis. if timed right, SV will trigger on Banish, and the aftercast will give you enough time to hit with necrosis. Plants are on this run too - Ibogas degen you, Jacarandas knock you down. kill Ibogas first, then Jacarandas. There is a monk bug boss who is impossible to kill with 55 SV, even with the best necrosis spam for 10 minutes straight (yeah, i tried.) kill off everything in his group, then run until he breaks aggro. This is another run that is variable in length, but it's definitely easy.

Fahranur is an area frequented by Mo/D farmers, but we'll show them that necros can farm there, too! one quick note for this place - you can solo vanquish it with 55SV + Necrosis, but if you want to just do a basic farm run there, you san run 55/SS with Insidious Parasite. i'll cover both in this explanation. regardless of which build you're running, the enemies here are insects, skale, undead, a very few Djinn, and a few Harpies. the first enemies you'll face are Skale. the warriors have Agonizing Chop, which wil interrupt you a lot considering the epic Deep Wound spam they're capable of. your order of killing priority is as follows - warriors first, then necros (Disease,) then Dervs (Cripple), then Eles (Water snares.) once you clear out enough skale and follow my mapped route, you'll hit a GIANT skale group. you can't take on all of them at once (you can, but it takes epic pirit bond spam) so you'll need to separate them. pull with a longbow or by casting SS/SV on the closest skale. spam spirit bond to maintain health, and kill of all the skale. don't worry about interrupts, as the skale in this huge group are interrupt-less nublets. once the first pull is dead, get the rest of the skale and nuke them too. once you clear out any other skale, it's time for the undead fortress. if you're running SV, you're set here - just SV + Necrosis = kill. if you're running SS, you're going to need to position enemies a bit. there are three types of spawns in the fortress - 3 warriors, two warriors and 1 necro, 2 necros an 1 warrior. the three warrior groups are simple. the two warrior, one necro groups are also easy - stick the warriors next to the necro, SS, IP on Necro, dead. one warrior, two necros is best taken down as follows - find the attacking necro, stick the warrior next to him, SS the war, IP the necro, dead warrior + necro. kill the remaining nec with SS + IP. eventually, if following the mapped path, you'll hit a Skree group consisting of Gedoss Windcutter, a Griffon (monk,) and either a warrior or a paragon. this group is actually pretty easy to take down - SS + IP the monk, when SS recharges put it on the warrior (if one spawned) or if there's a paragon, Gedos himself. the SS + IP will overwhelm the healer, and he'll die. after that, kill off Gedoss and whatever else is in his group. backtrack and keep killing undead until you get to Dread Lord Onrah (watch out for traps and the giant killer bell-looking thing.) use onrah as an SS battery to kill off the two necros in his group, hen obliterate im with SS + IP. keep going and kill off all other undead you run into until you get to the Djinn. Djinn go down pretty quickly to SS and IP (or SV, for that matter) and the boss is cake. if you're running SS, our run is over at the Djinn boss. if you're running SV, are you ready to VANQUISH!?!?!! well, you don't have to. you can if you like, and i'll tell you how: the groups i haven't explained yet are the non-boss harpy groups, the bug groups, and the plant groups. non-boss harpy groups are tough - there's usually a ranger and a monk, which means you have to contend with some hits, but not a lot of energy gain. use an undead war or bug war as an energy battery for these groups. bug groups are only hard because of the healers, which can take a minute or to to die from SV and Necrosis spam. otherwise, you only have to deal with Deep Wound spamming paragons, Poison spamming rangers, and nublet warriors with nothing but raw damage. Plants are a bit tougher - you have Ibogas who will degen you, and Jacarandas who will knock you down. get the Ibogas first, then Jacarandas. the toughest plant mob is the one with a boss - Modoss Darkwind. the boss is easy, but his mob is big. try to pull them apart if you can, otherwise tank with Spirit bond spamand get the ibogas first, then the Jacarandas, saving the boss for last. this run can be anywhere from medium length (abbreviated SS run) to long (if you're vanquishing it.) difficulty is medium.

Ok, i swear, i'm almost done droning on about Istan. just one more area. Issnur Isles. This is best run with SV / Necrosis, but you can run it with SS if you feel like avoiding those pesky bug monks. pretty much run around in the mapped area and kill eveything you can find - all the enemies you see there have been discussed previously. bugs, skales, a few plants - everything dies, and you can clear out a ton of stuff. i'd avoid corsairs, as they come in big groups here and degen and damage you quite a bit. not to mention, smite hex. ugh. this run can be very long if you clear out a lot of it, but you get plenty of loot, as evidenced by the screenshot. you can also just clear out some skale mobs for a short run. this is a pretty easy run, especially if you've read up on the enemies in earlier sections.

FINALLY! we're done with Istan! now i get to tell you about...

Kourna

Ok, time for a deep breath. this is a long run - Arkjok Ward. load up SV (if you want to kill monks) or SS (if you avoid monks) and leave from Yohlon Haven. the first mobs you'll encounter are the infamous bugs (yeah, i hate 'em too.) the bug groups are composed of three warriors and either a para or a monk. monks will die to SV and focused Necrosis spam, and you MIGHT get lucky and kill one with SS - i doubt it, however. anyway, after you get pat those groups, you'll have plenty of other stuff to kill - let's start with mandragors. if you brought SS, you're in for a ride. first off, you can only take groups of Stonefleshes and Slithers - imps will lifesteal and Chilblains you. anyway, kill off the Slither with SS + IP or SV, but watch for his Distracting Blow. next, kill off the eles (group them up if you're using SS.) repeat for any other Stoneflesh + slither groups you can find, but don't look too hard - there are plenty of popups. next on the list of stuff to kill is the groups of Tusked Hunters / Howlers that abound in there. they have no self heal and are physical attackers, so they go down really easily to SS/SV. after you're done with them, you'll have to contend with Eshau Longspear's group - the group is pretty simple, but sadly, there's a monk. don't bother with this group if you have SS, but they'll die to SV pretty quickly. once you're done with them, you can move on to.... Kournans! there are plenty of mobs of these glorious soldiers, and you can take down quite a few of them. look out for Kournan Seers - they're toughies with interrupts and two brands of enchantment removal. you can kill and groups without Seers, though, including Lieutenant Kayin's group and the Acolyte of Grenth's group. (thanks to ANet for the recent AoG changes.

) you can also kill Onwan, Lord of the Ntouka - pull him and the Tusked Hunter/Howler group he's in, and he dies quick. there are a few plant groups around, and they have some knockdowns and a whole lot of burning - kill the KD eles first, then focus fire on the paragons. the toughest plant groups are those near Modti Darkflower - of course we kill him! aggro up his group and focus on the degeneration-bot Ibogas first. once Modti is all that's left, hide behind a wall and nuke him with SS or SV. continue clearing out the plants, focusing on Ibogas, as usual. some other miscellaneous groups you'll run into are Kuskale (easy and straightforward) and elementals (groups of two, die quick.) this run is looooooooong if you decide to clear out everything you can, but it's very worth it in my opinion.

The Floodplain of Mahnkelon has been farmed by N/A's for a long while - i'd rather not write about it when it's already been done. check out this build page for the build and tactics - i'm Empty Orchestra on the talk page. look at the talk page to find the screenshots i posted for the run.

Vabbi

Vabbi is a very nice place for necros to farm, as evidnced by these profitable spots:

First stop: Vehjin Mines. Now Vehjin mines - a quick warning - is a HARD run. not for the faint of ping, or the not-so-experienced 55 necro. for this run to succeed, you pretty much NEED SV/IP. SV has the killing power you need, and IP / Spirit Bond are the health management you have to have. Vehjin Mines isn't vanquishable, but you can clear out a whole lot of it. i prefer to start this run from Jennur's Horde, as you get to start with my favorite foes - Behemoths. Behemoths are somewhat hard to begin with - they degen you quite a bit, as well as a lot of direct damage. they summon minions, too. anyway, head out from Jennur's and go right. you'll see two groups of Behemoth Gravebanes (the necros.) kill them off with SV + IP. you'll need Spirit Bond and maintain IP to manage the degen. kill off the minions with a wand or SV, then move on to the other Gravebane group. deal with them the same way. next, you'll have to deal with the dreaded Marobeh Sharptail's group. this group consists of a few Gravebanes as well as some Scytheclaws (the dervishes.) kill the necros first, as they stick you with a constant six degen, as you know from previous groups. the behemoth dervs light you on fire periodically, thanks to Heart of Fury. once you've cleared the necros, you're going to need to watch out for that. maintain IP on a dervish at all times, and spam spirit bond when you start burning. the boss goes down to SV/IP pretty quickly, and ta-da! group over. at this point, clear the behemoths up to the rez shrine, using the same tactics as outlined previously. once you get to the rez shrine, feel free to die to get rid of marobeh's morale boost. once you rez, continue clearing behemoths (after, of course, equipping a -20hp offhand or unequipping your -50 cesta) until you get to the Hunting Minotaurs and Bull trainer Giants. the Trainers are annoying necros with plenty of conditionspam, and the minos are straight up damage dealers. kill off the giants with SV while maintaining IP on a minotaur for health. kill off those groups, then backtrack to the Rez shrine where you started - before Marobeh's group. head north into the mokele groups. these guys are tough - they have hex and enchantment removal (at least, the Scabaras do.) any groups without scabara are taken down easily. when you get to a scabara group, get ready for some enchant strips by covering PS and HB with SB. start by hexing the mesmer with IP - he'll get rid of it quickly. when he does, apply SV. while you're doing this, make sure your prot spirit is constantly covered. when recasting, recast in this order: PS, SB, HB, SB again when the timer runs out. this way, your PS is covered for the maximum amount of time possible. eventually, the mesmer will die, then you can kill off the rest of the group. if you get a two scabara group, just avoid it. they're possible, but very painfully long and not worth it. eventually, you'll get to Pehnsed the Loudmouth's group. he's a paragon boss with a vengeance - kill him and his groupmates with SV/IP. if a Scabara spawns with him, be prepared. keep moving through the area, killing mokeles, behemoths and minotaur / giant groups. eventually, you'll end up near Shak-Jarin's group. you'll be able to tell when you see the huge mobs of minotaurs and bull trainer giants sitting in one small area. pull them apart and start killing them, giant first. once they're cleared out (feel free to die to get to 13hp) you have shakr Jarin's group. phew, that's a lot of killing. Shak Jarin's group is tough - he's got a monk, him, another warrior, some rangers, and a paragon. the rangers have D-shot and the warrior ans Shak Jarin both have Savage Slash. this produces a problem for us necros who have no access to anti-interrupt skills - looks like we need to draw them out. first off, hide behind a rock so that the raangers / para can't hit you - that makes the interrupts a bit easier to bear. use Mending to draw out the Savage slashes, then put SV on either Shak Jarin or the warrior. at this point, the monk will move up to use Healing Touch on the frontline. now, start cycling SV on the warrior and the monk, while keeping IP on the monk. while doing this, make sure to draw out interrupts so your cycle isnt disrupted. after a while, the griffon will run out of energy and kill itself. at this point, the group is helpless. Shak Jarin and his warrior buddy will die in seconds, as will the rangers and the paragon, who you can kill through the wall. once that group is finally finished, move east to the rez shrine, and follow the path until you get to an open area with some hekets and plants. the plants are easy dervishes - take them out quickly with SV + IP. the hekets are a bit trickier - they have mega Deep Wound spam, but they also have an insane amount of interrupts, thanks to Mark of Fury. kill off the necromancers first - they sac themselves to death, as well as attack through SV + IP. once they're dead, wait for Mark of fury to wear off. once it's off, draw out interrupts and kill off the wars with SV + IP. once you finish clearing out the Hekets, you're done! well, i kind of lied. you're done with Vehjin, but you can run back and zone into HOLDINGS OF CHOKHIN! hooray! you can kill a few mobs of skree and minotaurs in here, with the tactics outlined previously. NOW you're done with this run. as i said before, this run is epically long and hard if you clear out everything. if you like, you can go on a behemoth-only run or a mokele-only run and save some time. i'll make around 10k a run, if i clear out everything possible.

damn, that was a lot of writing. i congratulate you for reading that. anyway, can you believe there's ANOTHER FARMING PLACE IN VABBI! woohoo! time for one of my old favorites, the infamous Hidden City of Ahdashim! for this run, i like to run a standard SV/Necrosis build, but a swap necrosis out for Angorodon's Gaze. it's easy on energy, as well as being an effective finisher. (you're burning for pretty much this whole run - if not burning, you're poisoned.) you'll need to start out by killing some djinn. Ruby Djinns are Burnin spammers, Diamond Djinn have good self healing but also set you on fire, and Sapphire Djinns - guess what? - light you on fire. focus on killing Diamonds first, then Sapphires, then Rubies. if you got any Roaring Ethers in those groups, kill them first - they have Energy denial as well as Mistrust. watch for mistrust and be sure not to cast SV or Angie's Gaze while it's active. you're tight on energy as it is. watch for popup Djinn groups - there's one on the right hand side of the starting room. they won't overwhelm you, just kill them in the same order as last time - Ethers (if they spawned,) then Diamonds, then Sapphires, then Rubies. once you're finished cleaning out the first room, you have three choices - you can head up the center, down the left path, or down the right path. the right path is pretty dry - there's a few hekets who are very difficult to kill because of the monks, then there are a ton of hard plants and a nigh-impossible boss group. if you go up the center, you get to kill more Djinns. if you head left, you get to kill some mokele, a few Behemoths, and some Djinn as well as some beetles. beetles are pretty easy and SV destroys them. deal with the Djinns as usual. mokeles are stupidly easy, but Behemoths are a bit tougher with their superdegen. Spirit bond is your friend here. avoid any boss groups, as they have too much energy denial for you to handle via the multiple ethers. clear whatever you feel like. this run can be long or short, depending on what you're shooting for. it's medium - hard, because you're burning constantly and a bit tight for energy in areas.

i'll only make you deal with one more NF farming spot - i swear. this is the domain of secrets, home of Exuro Flatus. load up an SS/IP build, but swap out Spirit Bond for Vigorous Spirit or Orison of Healing (Dismiss Condition is another good choice.) Spirit Bond is a bit too tough on energy in this place. your targets in here are Titans - Abominations, Madness Titans, and Pain Titans all die here. groups are weirdly built - either way, you'll kill the groups as follows: first off, group the all together. we want to see a lot of yellow 37s. SS works excellently on any titan - they all have superfast casting and attack rates. what i like to do is kill all Abominations, then Pain Titans, and then deal with all the little madness titans that will have spawned. run around and kill any and all titan groups you see, including Exuro's group - for Exuro, bring all of the titans together, then use Exuro as an SS battery to kill off his group. once they're dead, focus fire on Exuro with SS + IP. clear out any and all titans you can find. the run is pretty easy, and it's not that long.

and finally, by the grace of god, we are finished with elona! i hate to make you read all of that writing, but it's worth it. now, onto the most profitable gold mines that Guild Wars has given us 55 necros... the UNDERWORLD and the FISSURE OF WOE!

Fuzzy Taco · Feb 24, 2008, 11:16 PM // 23:16

VI. Realms of the Gods
A. The Underworld
B. The Fissure of Woe
VII. Credits

The Underworld and the Fissure of Woe are the two realms of the gods. with treasures of Ectoplasm and Obsidian Shards, these places are profitable, but by no means easy. they'll both be cleared in Normal Mode, as Hard Mode is a lot more dangerous and less worth the time.

we'll start with the Underworld. there are two distinct builds that can be used to farm the underworld - SS or SV. SV is a bit slower, but can clear more. SS is fast, but can't clear as much. if you're into fast ecto runs (at least, as fast as a 55 necro is going to do it) i'd go with SS. if you're in it for the challenge (like me a lot of the time) you'll run SV, and clear out a ton of stuff. i'll walk through a smite run and then some, giving tactics for both builds as i go.

Alright. drop your 1k to grenth (or be a nub and use a scroll

) and there you are in the Underworld. throw on your maintained enchants, then get ready to run like a little girl. aggro up the aatxes on your left, then, as soon as they start running at you, turn around and run behind benton. STOP. This is important. if you're facing benton, as you're running back to hide behind him, sneak by him on the RIGHT SIDE of him. if you go around the left, the aatxe will kill you. if you did it correctly, the aatxes will have broken aggro and ran back, maybe leaving one stuck in front of you. this way, you can kill any Dying Nightmares that popped up without fear of dying from an aatxe blow. to kill the nightmare, let him rend you with four enchantments, or let him rend you with three and wand him once with a max damage Blood or Curses wand, depending on whether you're running SV or SS. another important thing: sometimes you get a double nightmare spawn, where two will run at you while you're cowering behind Benton. what you need to do then is cast Healing Breeze on top of your maintained enchants and let the first nightmare kill himself on your maintained enchants + Healing Breeze. throw on PS as the second one comes at you, and wand him while he's casting Rend. He should die, as long as your wand is max damage and customized. if he doesn't die in one hit, strafe to dodge his wand attacks while PS is recharging. when it is recharged, put it back up and wand him to death. congratulations, you now know how to deal with nightmares! now i get to tell you about aatxes. they're big and beasty, and they like to Savage Slash your brains out. we need to trick them into using Savage Slash on something that's NOT SS, or Prot Spirit, or Healing Breeze. Mending will do just fine. Anyway, aggro up the aatxes by casting SS or SV on the closest Aatxe in the group, then use PS + HB as they're running in. (if there's still an aatxe bodyblocked by Benton, you need to switch it up a little bit: either kill him solo if you're running SV, or group him up with the rest of his group if you're running SS.) now, once your damage skill has recharged, DON'T RECAST IT YET. first off, we need to rid ourselves of those pesky aatxe interrupts. use mending repeatedly until you've been hit by as many savage slashes as there are aatxes in the group. once that's done, recast PS + HB, then use SS or SV again, on a different target. the aatxes will go down quickly as long as you draw out interrupts and use your damage skill liberally. once you've killed an aatxe group, check around it for Nightmare popups. if they spawn, wand them to death. repeat this strategy for the rest of the aatxe groups - if a nightmare spawns, run like hell into an area you've cleared until they break aggro, then kill the nightmare via wanding. if you're running SV, you can also get the two single roaming aatxes floating around. if you're running SS, i wouldn't bother - they're just time-consuming. once you're done clearing out all the aatxes and nightmares, it's time for Clear the Chamber. Grasping Darknesses are a pain in the ass for us casters - they spam interrupts and have the dreaded Daze. however, these builds are configured to own them. for the SS build, pull with SS, then hit PS while they're inbound. autoattack to make them waste their interrupts, then cast HB + Suffering on the group. they'll be dead in seconds. the SV build needs to pull with SV, cast PS as they come in, autoattack, HB, reapply SV on recharge, and keep enchants up and apply SV again. don't worry if you get skull cracked - that's what plague touch is for. clear out the rest of the Graspings with those tactics, then head towards the Ice Wastes. There are a few Aatxes between you and the Ice Wastes: kill them, but watch for the patrolling Grasping Darkness group. If that Grasping group has a nightmare, avoid it. otherwise, kill them too. head left and up the tiny flight of stairs and ta-daaa! Smiteland! Smite Crawlers abound in here, as do Coldfire Nights and the occasional Dying Nightmare. time to learn how to deal with Smite crawlers!

as you all know, 55 necros rely on hexes to deal damage. we're a bit screwed over if those hexes get removed. That's why we brought Suffering. Smites need to be dealt with as follows, with both builds: cast suffering, then wait until you are hit by the same amount of smite hexes as there are smites in the group you aggro'd. once they've all used their smite hexes, cast SS or SV on them, then re-cover it with Suffering. wait for them to use their smite hexes again, then reapply SS/SV and suffering. smites go down fast, and are a pretty big source of ectos. if you're running SS, you can aggro two groups together and use Spirit bond to keep your health up. The other enemytype you have to deal with in the Ice Wastes are Coldfire Nights. these buggers have Aura of Restoration and Maelstrom - two skills that get a bit annoying. to kill them, dodge their maelstroms in the beginning, and, if SSing, group them up. they fall to your hexes and a little wanding. continue clearing out smite and coldfire groups as you please. if a nightmare spawns while you're killing smites or Coldfires, fear not. time Prot Spirit IMMEDIATELY after rend, then recast HB and your maintained enchants. you should live, but there are rare times where a Nightmare spawns while you're dodging maelstroms. sadly, that's really tough to survive. regardless, the only thing you really need to look out for in the Ice Wastes is the large group of 5-6 Coldfires. all you need to do is dodge that many more maelstroms. otherwise, they die quick. clear out the rest of the Ice Wastes, and ta-daaa! your smite run is over! now you have the option of clearing out even more of the Underworld, which Pariah Hellfire has carefully outlined in http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10219346 this thread. the SV build can clear out all of that, as well as kill the terrorwebs. clear out whatever you like - but, as pariah warns, be patient if you're clearing out the Mountains - it can take a while.

phew! you now know how to solo the UW as a 55 necro! hooray! now i have the good fortune of telling you how to solo the Fissure. Load up your FoW solo build and hop in.

you'll notice i put Necrosis in there - i find it the easiest for taking out monks. if you don't have access to Necrosis - whether it be no Nightfall, a crappy sunspear rank, or whatever - replace Necrosis with Defile Flesh, to be used on monks. when you spawn in the FoW, immediately step back behind Rastigan - sometimes, if you get a poor spawn and don't step back, you can aggro accidentally and get rastigan killed. we'll start with the group on the left, consisting of a Monk, two Warriors, a Beast, and a patrolling Shadow Warrior and Beast. stick the warriors next to the monk and place SS on a warrior, then IP on the monk. when SS recharges, put it on the monk, then spam necrosis to hell and back (or apply Defile Flesh, if you brought it.) the monk will drop relatively quickly. after the monk dies, kill off the rest of the group with SS + IP + necrosis spam (if you brought defile, only use it on the warriors, not the beasts.) once you're done with them, move on to the group consisting of one Warrior, two Elementalists, and a Mesmer. the mesmer has Shatter Enchantment, which will kill you if it hits PS. be sure to cover PS with Healing Breeze at all times, and use Spirit Bond to maintain health. maintain IP on the warrior, then group up the mesmer and eles by backing up a bit. once that's done, cast SS on the mesmer, and spam Necrosis on him until he dies (if you brought it.) once he;s dead, kill of the eles, then the warrior. watch out for the Shadow Beast popup near that group - don't let it catch you off guard. after this group is dead, avoid the small groups of one beast and one monk - there's two of them, and they are nigh impossible to kill. now you get to try your hand at another, larger mesmer group - the one to the right of Rastigan. you need to do everything you did with the last mesmer group - group up casters, IP a War, cover PS - but the aggro of the group is important, too. aggro them so that they stay away from Rastigan, but keep them out of casting range of any Shadow Monks. take down the mesmer, then eles, then melees. once you're finished with them, move up to the two warrior, one monk group. nuke them the same way you dealt with the first monk - SS on war, IP on monk, SS on monk, Necrosis, gg. now, run forward a bit, while holding left control, and wait for the Shadow Army patrols to spawn. another two war, one monk group is headed your way. kill them, too. now run back around to where you killed the first mesmer group - it's time to kill some abyssals and shadow rangers. aggro up one abyssal at a time - two can get a bit hairy. pull with SS on an abyssal, then use IP as he's coming in. the abyssal should die with just those initial hexes. once the abyssal dies, clear out the Shadow rangers in his group by sticking them together and SSing them both. continue clearing out the ranger + Abyssal groups BUT LEAVE THE LAST GROUP ALIVE. if you kill the last group of two rangers + Abyssal, you'll trigger Rastigan to run up to the tower once you get within radar range of him again. once you're done clearing out any Abyssals + Shadow rangers you feel like killing, it's time to see if you can farm the beach. run down to where the Shadow Patrols popped from - you'll see a group of Snarling Driftwoods and later, a Doubter's Dryder. kill the Driftwoods with SS, as they're easy. Dryders have a lot of enchant removal, but they don't hit for much, so we'll face them in full health and max armor gear. stop maintaining all enchantments and pull with SS + IP. once Guiolt runs out, Necrosis spam the dryder to death. now, look to see if you can run by the Ancient Skale spawn - if you can sneak through, by all means, go. if it looks tight, don't bother. if you make it to the beach, clear out any Driftwoods and Dryders you can find, staying far away from Skale. if you get far enough, you'll see a group of three Dryders guarding Spider cave. pull them individually with a longbow and nuke them. after you've done that, get ready for the spiders. trigger spiders by running where the dryders were - once you've triggered them, step back and re-enchant. pull groups of three spiders at a time, and keep them separated - we only want to have to deal with one interruptable healing spring per spider. equip your curses wand with 20/20, and get ready for some interrupts. SS is useless vs. these guys - they'll interrupt it easily. kill them with IP and necrosis, if you get the chance. interrupt any Healing Springs by autoattacking. keep on pulling spiders one group at a time, and keep them separated, if you can. if you can't, get ready for a new strategy. if you get a clump of spiders, stick them together and run up ADJACENT to them. this way, they won't use healing spring. draw out their savage shots with Essence bond, then SS the center spider. watch for any fluke Healing Springs, and interrupt them. the spiders will die. you can clear out spider cave by killing any spiders before the dryders, then pulling the dryders with a longbow. use the healing spring trick to eliminate clumped spiders. congratulations, now you know how to clear out spider cave as a necromancer!

sadly, we can't always get into the beach. we can also try for the forest, however. details about the forest (and getting to it) can be found in this thread, just remember to kill Rock Borer worms with max armor on, and watch out for nature's renewal. there are a few spider popups in the forest, but you know how to deal with those. the toughest part of getting to the forest is the skeleton group in the way - hopefully, you can sneak by, but, if not, you have to kill them. that's damn hard, considering they have two copies of Shatter Enchant and Cry of Frustration. to kill this group, precast PS, HB, then SB, and hex the nearest mesmer with SS. wait for both shatters, draw out interrupts with Essence Bond, reapply enchantments, then kill off the mesmer you hexed with Necrosis spam. oh, and by the way, while you're doing that, you have to dodge maelstroms. it's possible, but very tough - i'd just forget about the forest if you can't sneak by that group, unless you've gotten a shard or two and feel like trying something new. there's also a small chance that you can aggro the skeltons into the Shadows - aggro up the Shadow group of two eles and a mesmer, then pull the Skelton group with a bow, then run them into each other. they'll fight, so you can recast enchants and try to run like hell. it's risky, and i'd only recommend it if it's the last thing you have to solo.

one method of farming the FoW that may be more profitable is changing out necrosis for Drunken Master, equipping your high health armor, and running by the shadows at the start. this way, you're guaranteed a go at the beach, as you can run by skale, too. kill the Driftwoods, Dryders, and Spiders like normal, except you won't have necrosis, so unclumped spiders take a little longer. you can also run to the forest more easily, but you still need to try to sneak by that two Ether Breaker, three Icehand group, or aggro them together with the shadows, or kill them.

Before i'm done boring you to death, there's one last thing i want to mention.
[skill]Spell Breaker[/skill]
isn't it beautiful? alas, you can't run it with its five second duration and elite-ness. however, a hero can run it... with a little help from you, of course.
Spell Breaker opens up huge possibilities for farming in the UW and FoW, especially the more profitable areas of both - the Chaos Plains, Bone Pits, and Spawning Pools in UW, and a hero gives you a guaranteed run at the Beach and/or the Forest in FoW. both of the templates are in the first post... now for a quick outline on how to use them.
the first thing you'll notice is that you don't change your build when you dual FoW with a hero. that's because you'll be solo for the Forest and the Beach - we don't want our hero stealing ALL our drops, do we? in the beginning of the FoW, disable your hero's maintained enchantments (as well as Spell Breaker, Windborne Speed, and Purge Signet) and manually cast them on yourself by pressing F and micro-ing your hero. leave Blessed Aura and Blessed Sig enabled - your hero will maintain Blessed Aura and he loves spamming the sig. take on shadow groups as usual, but use Spell Breaker to make Ele + mesmer groups easier. once you're done with your normal shadow army run, clear up to the Ancient Skales at the beach entrance and the Skeletons at the Battlefield entrance. now, survey the spawns: if you can sneak by either of them, dump your hero back at Rastigan, sneak through, and solo away. once you're finished soloing one side, return and check the other spawn (i like to go Beach first, then Forest.) if you can sneak by the Skeletals without aggroing, dump your hero then Forest farm away. If you CAN'T sneak by one of the spawns, do this: Flag your hero in a safe spot, then make sure he/she has an enchanting weapon on, as well as blessed Aura. make them cast Spell Breaker then Windborne Speed on you, then run like the squishy you are. you should make it through with no problems, on both the skale and skeletal groups. ta-da! your hero is out of drop range, and you now have a free ticket to the Forest.
The Underworld works similarly, but with one difference: your hero doesn't leave your side. you need that Spell Breaker to be able to farm the Chaos Plains, Bone Pits, and Spawning Pools. When you spawn in the UW, cast your and your hero's maintained enchants on you, then bond up and aggro Aatxes with Spell Breaker. kill off any Nightmares, then blow up the aatxes with your leet SS + Reckless Haste + Desecrate combo. continue on your normal UW run, using Spell Breaker to simplify Coldfires and Nightmare groups, and using the visages vs. Graspings to protect yourself from Dazed. (hint: you can complete Clear the Chamber with the SB hero, too. Read more about those guys AND Obby Behemoths here:http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10219346.) once you've cleared the Chamber and done your Smite run (on your smite run, use visages so you can kill them with SS + Reckless + Desecrate. Also, Shielding Hands + SoA are there for a reason - aggro smites to your heart's delight), get prepped for a longer soloing adventure. Kill off the Obsidian Behemoths in the mountains by hiding behind a wall whenever possible - if it's absolutely not possible, you can tank them 55 style if you flag your monk out of Nature's Renewal. With this method, Autoattack often to interrupt Healing Spring. once you get to the Plains, refer to this map for Mindblade Spectre spawns: Click. This is where micromanaging your hero becomes a bit tricky - kill the Banished Dream Rider with one SB and SS + Reckless + Desecrate. then, using the map as a reference, get out before the Mindblades close in on you or your hero. for Mindblades, you're going to need to echo SB, which is harder to do on a hero, but can definitely be done. micro arcane Echo, then SB on yourself. Round up the Mindblades, KEEPING YOURSELF TARGETED, then wait for Spell Breaker's recharge to hit the bottom right hand corner of the skill icon. once it does, with yourself targeted, hit SB again. it's somewhat tough, but with practice (try Isle of the Nameless to get your timing down) it's possible. Once the second Spellbreaker comes on, nuke the Minds with SS, Reckless, Desecrate. don't worry if SB runs out and they're not quite dead - all you'll get is a migraine you can easily tank out. repeat for any and all Mindblades, as well as the Pits/Pools - watch out for Chained Souls in the Bone Pits - all they have is Rend, and they use it well. this run can be LONG, but also rewarding - 10+ ectos, even with a hero, isn't uncommon if you clear the chamber and solo everything possible.

FINALLY! the guide is over! you may now rest your eyes.

Credits

I really need to thank a few people who helped me write this guide, as well as helped me be me.

My Lipgloss is Cool - You helped a ton with the guide, and without you, i'd still be farming to get screenshots.

thanks for being an awesome friend, farmer, and leader, as well as placing me high on your "least-hated" list. I appreciate everything you've done, and i owe you for all the help you've given me.

Lidele - you also helped with the screenshots, but you helped me in another way - giving me a good kick in the ass to keep me going.

you're a great friend and player, and thank you.

Pariah Hellfire - you were one of the people who inspired me to write this guide. you've done great things for the guild wars community, and you've been gracious and kind to myself and others, even when extraordinarily difficult circumstances arise in real life. I commend you for everything, and look forward to future necro farming discussions in the future.

Kcp - what can i say? you wrote the book on 55 necro farming. if it wasn't for you, us necros could still be in the dark on FoW and UW soloing. thanks to your hard work and patience, the Guild Wars community has become a richer place. your work has been amazing, and without it, i wouldn't know anything about 55 necromancy.

CE Devilman - you've contributed a lot to this forum with a few really cool ideas for necromancer farming. keep it coming, and thanks for thinking outside the box!

A Simple Farmer - your 600hp/smiter CoF thread inspired me to try it on my necro, and it worked magically. thank you for giving us necros another lucrative farm spot, and thanks for all the work you've put into it!

and thank you to everyone who has the endurance to read this giant guide - good luck, and have fun!

P.S. i'm posting the guide because you guys, as a community, have been so patient for it. i will be periodically adding new pictures and videos, hopefully. also, i will be keeping the guide updated with new skill balances that affect farm spots, and whatnot.

Sanakthe Victus · Feb 24, 2008, 11:22 PM // 23:22

Amazing!!! Very impressive!

And it's so long, good job Fuzzy Taco and all the others who have helped him!

Wooow

shru · Feb 24, 2008, 11:22 PM // 23:22

great guide noodle, realy glad to see you finally got it done.

Zhoul · Feb 24, 2008, 11:27 PM // 23:27

Very nice, thanks a lot.

blurmedia · Feb 24, 2008, 11:37 PM // 23:37

I read all of this and I dont even have a pve necro >.< time to modify builds for Mo/N

Fuzzy Taco · Feb 24, 2008, 11:39 PM // 23:39

Plains of Jarin map.

Zehlon Reach run, followed by a full map.

Silent Surf run.

Maishang Hills Kappa run.

Arkjok Ward drops, followed by map.

Domain of Secrets run.

Panjiang Peninsula run.

Issnur Isles drops, followed by map.

Mount Qinkai Yeti drops + map.

How to hide behind benton - this picture and the next one (disregard the build)

Kinya Province drops + map.

Hidden City of Ahdashim run map + drops.

Fahranur, the First City run + Drops.

Diviner's Ascent full run.

Minister Cho's Estate video.

enjoy!

afya · Feb 25, 2008, 12:27 AM // 00:27

wow~thats really long. ty Fuzzy Taco. i may try some on my monk since i don't have a necro

Yggdrasil · Feb 25, 2008, 01:08 AM // 01:08

Holy crap! Thanks a lot for this, it's amazing (from my preliminary skim) and very long.

A Shade Of Dark · Feb 25, 2008, 01:12 AM // 01:12

Very nice, I'm glad it got reposted, time to get out my old necro ^^
~ASoD

Lidele · Feb 25, 2008, 01:27 AM // 01:27

Yay! its finally done!!!! good work Noodle!

Targuil · Feb 25, 2008, 01:50 AM // 01:50

Good guides are popping up.

assassin of the night · Feb 25, 2008, 02:24 AM // 02:24

OMG i love this guide it has helped me so much more in UW i kept dieing by the aatxe because i went the wrong way to benton ill try some more of ther later TY SO MuCH!!!!!!!!!

cerb · Feb 25, 2008, 02:32 AM // 02:32

Good work =)

Maybe you could cut down some paragraphs and add inline images then it would look very good

Netster · Feb 25, 2008, 02:36 AM // 02:36

Really nice guide. Thanks for all the effort you put into this. It's time for my little necro to get some exercise heh.

Magikarp · Feb 25, 2008, 03:02 AM // 03:02

i love this guy. this is beyond impressive. so glad you're in my alliance you big sack of awesome!

Rip_Snag · Feb 25, 2008, 03:39 AM // 03:39

This should be stickied!!!!!!!!!!!!
Awsome job I'm a big fan of your last post and look forward to trying some of your new stuff

IGN Jagg Horn

Feel free to pm me sometime if you need some run company!!

urafailure91 · Feb 25, 2008, 04:07 AM // 04:07

YOU ARE MY HERO!
Really nice guide, thanks a lot for all you put into this. Excellent, excellent job.