Curse

Racthoh · Nov 08, 2005, 09:38 PM // 21:38

*Updated May 30th 2006 - Fixed out of date Spider fighting technique
*Updated July 11th 2006 - W/Mo Build Added
*Updated August 16th 2006 - Link to the Dragon Slash build posted
http://files.filefront.com/The_Spide.../fileinfo.html to see it in action.
Do not kill the Ancient Skales under any circumstance unless you're looking for a challenge afterwards.
If you're confused about running to them, download this:
http://files.filefront.com/Runningwm.../fileinfo.html
Regarding another build that I posted using the monk secondary, a build recommended for more advanced players:
http://files.filefront.com/Time_Tria.../fileinfo.html

There are far too many warrios in ToA that sit there endlessly spamming "LFG" so it's about time we put them to good use.

Sprint
Flurry
Hundred Blades
Watch Yourself!
Galrath Slash
Final Thrust
Healing Signet
Dolyak Signet

EDIT: My original attributes were 11 strength, 13 sword and 12 tactics. However using a Superior Swordsmanship Rune allows you to achieve 12 strength, 13 sword, and 12 tactics.

Strength: 11 + 1
Sword: 10 + 3
Tactics: 11 + 1

Zealous and of Defense/Shelter sword upgrades. You need the bonuses to defense because you will be taking a lot of hits. Any stance equipment is optimal since well, you won't be enchanted and your health will dip above and below 50% with some frequency. Gladiator's Armour (or the new Legionnaires Armour) is the best choice.

You appear in FoW, Sprint to the group on the right and run past them up to where a group of 2 warriors and a monk will be coming down. Take a break, and healing if nothing is chasing if you got hit by a fireball or something along those lines. Once they get close enough, run up to the path to the beach. Make the three patrols that are in that valley come up. With where you are standing, there should be a tall mountain which you will need to circle around should anything be following you. Once you start your path down to the beach you're home free. Use Sprint to break off any patrols, if you're a droknar runner I'm sure this sort of tactic is probably familiar to you.

Once at the entrance, kill the group of driftwood there and the dryder. Move down as far as possible without aggroing any of the skales. This is probably the most difficult part since you have to watch behind for the shadow patrols, and ahead for the skales without much room to run. Once they're dead, wait for a patrol of driftwood to come within bow range. Hit once with a bow pulling them to your location, then get ready to run. You should typically be doing this in the first safe spot here:

The second safe spot is usually clear aside from a patrol of driftwood that makes their way there. From the first safe spot, hold ctrl (or whatever button you've assigned to locate enemies) to see if that spot is safe from a skale spawn. If it is inhabited, hug the other wall and sprint that way. Just use your best judgement, there isn't much else to say.

Examine the groups in the next little area to determine where it is safe to run to next. At this part, watch for the patrols and clear them (learning the patterns will come in time).

Now, you're at the tunnel. Pull the two closest dryders back. Under no circumstance should your aggro bubble touch where they were standing otherwise you release the spiders. They tend to be relucant to move too far out, but a longbow works just fine in this situation. Once they're dead, do the same thing on the last one.

Once they're dead. Run into the tunnel until three spiders appear. Then, run back luring the spiders with you (if they don't follow no big deal). Pull them along the wall until you're a fair distance from the entrance but not too far that you're aggroing skales. While engaged with these first group, the rest of the spiders will emerge from the cave and come out onto the beach.

Now, the tricky part.

Fighting them can be annoying, and you need to use a lot of strategic movements to get them to position themselves just right. When you're pulling them back they will bunch up together and use Healing Spring every so often. You can't compete against 3 healing springs in terms of damage. As such, when you're pulling them back watch your radar closely. When one of them hangs back slightly (because it will be using Healing Spring or Apply Poison) it will separate from it's comrades. At that point, turn around and run to the group of two and start fighting IF the lone spider decides not to move. Since they have a long range with their shot it shouldn't be too difficult to achieve this result, so as long as you're in it's range it will not move.

Because of an update not so long ago, bunching them up no longer presents the problem of having to focus on interrupting healing springs. As long as you are within attacking range, they will not attempt to use Healing Spring.

Now, this deals with the first group you pulled. When dealing with the next lot, simply pluck an arrow into one and it will pull three spiders towards you. If it pulls multiple spiders, don't worry. The build can maintain multiple spiders at once.

Once you clear the beach, note that every dryder afterwards has 6 armoured spiders that will spawn. One group from behind once the dryder is in your aggro bubble, the other after a certain period of time has passed. Deal with these annoyances in the similar pattern as before.

Remember:
Use healing signet when Dolyak Signet and Watch Yourself are up. If you need to, settle with one or the other, but using it while neither is up is foolish.

July 11th Update
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If you are highly experienced with the run, then I propose an alternative build that can be taken in baby steps (to an extent). The -> indicates a change in skill that you can make once you become more comfortable with the run to speed things up.

Sprint
Flurry -> Frenzy
Watch Yourself
Galrath Slash
Final Thrust
Live Vicariously
Balthazar's Spirit -> Silverwing Slash (Factions Skill)
Healing Hands {E}

Healing Prayers: 10
Strength: 2 + 1
Swordsmanship: 12 + 3 + 1
Tactics: 8 + 1

My tactics level is 9 because of the shield I use, which has -2 damage while enchanted and -2 damage while in stance. I highly recommend the use of such a shield for these runs. I would also suggest the use of the Legionnaries armour (should you have access to it) for an additional +10 AL. This build also requires that you understand how to pull every group of dryders properly without causing the spiders to come out:

This is with a longbow class bow equipped as your pulling weapon:

1. Make sure you're well out of range, even out of the range of firing an arrow.
2. With the bow on, attack the dryder.
3. Rotate the screen as you run into range so you're looking at the front of your character.
4. Once your character is about to release the arrow, hold W (if you still have the default WASD setup) to move back towards the entrance of the cave.
5. Continue to hold down W until the dryder starts to move on your radar screen. At this point, rotate the screen back, and walk backwards (default s) until the dryder uses a spell on you. At this point, it has been pulled back far enough as to not walk into the trigger point for the spiders. As such, walk up to it and attack.

The running process is what makes this run most difficult since you can't stop and use Healing Signet. So here are some tips when running on the beach:

1. In the event you have to aggro some skales, run into a stopping point for one of the driftwood's patrol paths. This requires that you have prior knowledge of the run and know where all of the groups stop. Also, you can't aggro any dryders unless you want to cancel Wastrel's with Frenzy to prevent that damage.

2. After running, remove whatever armour you have with your superior rune for 75 more health. When the degen stops and you're well about 75 health, throw the armour back on.

3. +health armour (Factions only) and the denravi helm.

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August 16th Update
Factions build using Dragon Slash by Foo - the Dragon Slash W/Me Build.

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In case there is anything I didn't cover, Ubermancer has provided another guide that is rather lengthy, but answers a lot of questions that you would have to sift through the numerous pages here to discover. http://p3.forumforfree.com/here-vp845-rfe.html#845

striderkaaru · Nov 08, 2005, 10:04 PM // 22:04

not bad, racthoh. very nice guide.

as for an axe variant, you could probably just switch out the sword attacks for equivalent axe attacks. it most likely won't matter as much since survivability with this build is independent of the offense.

take out:

hundred blades
galrath slash
final thrust

replace it with something like:

eviscerate
executioner's strike
penetrating blow/power attack

use power attack if you don't like having 4 adrenal skills on the skill bar. otherwise, the build is solid. very good work.

Racthoh · Nov 09, 2005, 11:02 AM // 11:02

Thanks Strider, I'm still thinking if hammer could do it, but I think it would add quite a bit of time onto it since you would have to heal more often.

Pesky thing I've noticed is that the armoured cave spiders use Melandru's Resilience, but I'm sure that the 20% from deep wound would compensate for that.

axe · Nov 09, 2005, 02:43 PM // 14:43

AWESOME I am going to try this tonight.

I dont use swords though, but I will hopefully cap Hundred blades tonight from Rurik. One thing I want to ask/suggest as a sword warrior couldnt you use an interupt (savage slash? Im not familiar with sword skills so forgive me if this isntright) instead of Galrath slash? to stop the healing spring?

striderkaaru · Nov 09, 2005, 03:51 PM // 15:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racthoh

Thanks Strider, I'm still thinking if hammer could do it, but I think it would add quite a bit of time onto it since you would have to heal more often.

Pesky thing I've noticed is that the armoured cave spiders use Melindru's (Sp?) Resistance, but I'm sure that the 20% from deep wound would compensate for that.

since i play a hammer warrior most of the time, i could try to come up with something. the knockdowns might make up for the lack of 16 extra armor from a shield, but we'll see. counter blow is a spammable kd that works well for things that attack. can't really say until it's tried and tested though.

for axe warriors, the deep wound might be bad if the spiders have melandru's resilience. it might be worth it to bring cleave, which is an ultra spammable nuke, instead of eviscerate then.

@axe
healing spring is a trap and the spiders are easily interrupted while casting it. as long as you hit them in the middle of their cast, you will interrupt them. no real need for savage.

Racthoh · Nov 09, 2005, 04:39 PM // 16:39

Well, since Melandru's Resilience only give 2 pips of regen from a deep wound, I think the spike from Eviscerate more than makes up for it.

Savage Slash would be interesting if you decide to kill the Ancient Skales, which is possible with the current build, but it's scary as hell. Hundred Blades isn't necessary, I used to use Charge! until I realized that Sprint was enough. You can replace it with pretty much anything you want.

The spots I posted that are to safe to stand in are usually your best bet. Sometimes though the Ancient Skales like to wander so just keep an eye out for them.

Sentao Nugra · Nov 09, 2005, 05:06 PM // 17:06

for the hammer you could use:

earth shaker
belly smash
aftershock

yes it is energy heavy and would require glads armour (for the initial hit)
atts would be so

strength 10 +1(helm) (could be dropped to 9 +1(helm) if need be)
hammer 10 +3(sup rune)
tactics 11 +1(minor rune)
and the rest into earth magic

gou · Nov 09, 2005, 10:40 PM // 22:40

regarding the healing springs would distracting blow speed things up?
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/skill/95-distracting-blow
it interrupts foes adjacent to your target as well, so if you notice the spider you are not attacking stops firing, merely slam it on your current target.

This skill has no linked attribute so will work with any weapon, it deals no damage but it has a fast recharge

and any mesmer will tell you :group interruption is fun

Racthoh · Nov 10, 2005, 08:35 PM // 20:35

I'm not sure if it would speed things up since it doesn't deal any damage and simply interrupts. As long as you take note to how long it's been since the spider attempted a Healing Spring you should be fine. The animation is different from Apply Poison, so if they're close enough a Hundred Blades will do the trick just as well since Healing Spring is easily interrupted.

Plus, it would mean you have to take out either Hundred Blades, Galrath Slash, or Final Thrust. Prehaps if you wanted to kill the Ancient Skales with a little more ease but I never attempt them until the tunnel is cleared because they're quite scary alone.

Sentao Nugra · Nov 10, 2005, 09:32 PM // 21:32

tried this out last night, but had a few rough spots witht the first 6 spiders, i couldnt keep up with the degen from poison and attacking at the same time, any pointers?

Melkor of ZoSo · Nov 10, 2005, 09:37 PM // 21:37

What's the Shard drop rate? Get one every 2 or 3 runs?

Racthoh · Nov 10, 2005, 10:36 PM // 22:36

Typical run nets me 2-4 shards, gold item here and there, occasional key and lots of spider legs (they usually cover the cost of the run). Think my best run so far included a rare chaos axe, a black dye, and 3 shards.

When you have Dolyak Signet and Watch Yourself up the spiders themselves should be doing 0 or 1 damage on you. Sometimes there is the off 3-4 in there I pay little heed to that however. Even when using Healing Signet with Dolyak Signet and Watch Yourself in effect the spiders hit for less than 10. I find if I do try to take on a lot at a time that I'm spamming Healing Signet.

If you're just starting out, I would suggest only taking on one group of 3 at a time. Make sure when you're pulling them the easiest way to ensure you only get one group is to hit the closest spider on the radar with an arrow. Then once they've followed you back far enough engage.

If you're doing this:

With some ease, then you've got the build down pretty well.

Sentao Nugra · Nov 12, 2005, 04:06 AM // 04:06

thanks racthoh, when i get some more money to go back down ill try that..

knives · Nov 12, 2005, 04:39 AM // 04:39

Axe Variant:

Eviscerate in for galrath
Cyclone axe in for hundred blades (aoe damage that will interrupt the springs like HB)
Executioners strike in for final, because it kind of does act like a final with deep wound.

Hmm..I should try this. Only thing is, I am not as familiar with FoW as I am with UW.

Anarion Silverhand · Nov 12, 2005, 10:31 PM // 22:31

Does this build still work after the update? Feel kinda dumb for asking

jonnybegood · Nov 12, 2005, 11:03 PM // 23:03

it should since there are no spells of aoe, maybe a biy easier since they dont follow you as much when u start.

Racthoh · Nov 13, 2005, 03:02 AM // 03:02

I've noticed that they generally still follow the same amount, but as a natural result to the speedbuff of Sprint is the reason they break off.

Also if anyone is having trouble getting it to work, I'll gladly show you how to use it. Just PM me here or contact me ingame.

damkel · Nov 13, 2005, 03:13 PM // 15:13

Thought of adding warrior's endurance in there? Elite skill. For every successful hit, you gain 3 energy. Its a stanceand should last 19 seconds with 12 strength put in.

Using this you would be able to spam some skills and get some extra damage in. Along with a zealous upgrade, you would be in spamming heaven!!

RotteN · Nov 13, 2005, 04:15 PM // 16:15

nice one, might just try the axe variant when i don't get a group next time we have favour

Sentao Nugra · Nov 13, 2005, 06:54 PM // 18:54

ive been trying to try the axe variant, but it seems as since the update that the group on the right that you run to likes to go and kill rastigan. so when i figure out a way around this, ill get started