Curse

Dark Paladin X · Jul 19, 2008, 03:07 AM // 03:07

Ever want to get large amounts of holiday items this weekend? I have really good build for this. It involves using massive degeneration on multiple foes to kill them. It's not just for holiday items, you can use it farm Dwarven Rep Points.

Hard Mode Snowmen Degeneration Plower
[build name="HM Snowmen Degeneration Plower" prof=E/Me Inspiration=7 Earth=12+1+3 Air=4 Fire=8 EnergyStorage=7+2][Glyph of Swiftness][Obsidian Flesh][Stoneflesh Aura][Mindbender][Ether Nightmare (Luxon)][Radiation Field][Incendiary Bonds][Mantra of Frost][/build]
If you are a Kurzick, replace it with your respective rank (whatever your rank is the highest on when it comes to the Kurzick/Luxon conflict)

Equipment and requirements

at least second rank of the Luxon/Kurzick title track
at least rank 5 on the Asura Title track
full radiant armor
a staff or focus/weapon combo with a +20% enchanting mod [for me I used a Spear of Enchanting with a +5 energy mod and a Earth Scroll from collector Ohtah would work (which +30 HP and a Earth Magic +1/20% chance)]

Usage:

Use Glyph of Swiftness to easily maintain Obsidian Flesh and Stonflesh Aura.
Use Mantra of Frost as a mean of energy management and further damage reduction (Snowmen normal attacks deals cold damage).
Use Incendiary Bonds, Radiation Field, and Ether Nightmare on the foes (TIP: try to move around a bit so the Snowmen would group together for easier AoE effect)
Mindbender is used for cutting casting time for spells like Stoneflesh Aura, Ether Nightmare, and Radiation Field (where the casting time is relatively long)

Also, I do have a few useful notes:

Armor of Earth is NOT need for this build, mainly because snowmen normal attacks deal less than 30 damage anyways with Obsidian Flesh+Mantra of Frost+Stoneflesh Aura. You also don't need to worry on the Ice Darts, as Stoneflesh and Mantra of Frost will greatly reduce the damage to zero and you still gain energy (the damage from Ice Darts are cold damage). Also, since you have obsidian flesh active, Snowball spell does not go through.
Contrary to most popular belief, Snowmen ARE considered to be fleshy creatures. So the Disease effect will go through. Although when I faced the Angry Snowman, Disease doesn't effect him.
Avoid fighting Mischievous Snowmen, particularly when you get to the part where two of them roll the giant snowballs onto you and the small bridge that leads you to the second Resurrection Shrine (For some reason, Hidden Rock also applies to their normal attacks as well as their Snowball attacks). They are a bit tricky to not aggro them, but it can easily be done so by walking along the left icicle wall (if the camera is facing south).
In very rare cases, Avalanche environmental effect will interrupt you (happened to me a few times)
When you get to the giant room full of Playful and Pious Snowmen (as well as having to fight Cordial Snowmen), there is a Mischievous Snowman in the center. He can easily be avoided by walking around him through a small hill area with Wintersday Moa.
When facing Cordial Snowmen, do not use the Incendiary Bond spell. Ice Breaker will knock you down in inappropriate times (since degen does not count as damage, the spells won't knock you down).
Always save the Angry Snowman for the last. The reason being when fighting him, the Ice Dart traps will still be active, allowing a flow of energy.
Pious Snowmen and Freezie will use "Mmmm. Snowcone!" shout that will heal them when health is low. Don't worry though, you can still kill them before they get to use them again (although Freezie may use it twice, you would have inflict enough degeneration that the shout will not heal Freezie to full health).
Each run takes about 45-60 minutes if done correctly.

Sora267 · Jul 19, 2008, 03:48 AM // 03:48

Nice build, but for 45-60 mins, it probably doesn't give as many holiday items as, say, 45-60 mins of Raptors or Glacial Stone farming. I think even doing it with H/H would give more holiday drops in the same amount of time, but I may still check this out when I'm bored enough to even think of getting on GW. Great guide, too!

Dark Paladin X · Jul 19, 2008, 04:15 AM // 04:15

i think i mgiht got the time inaccurate, it might take half than that. I'm not sure, I don't really keep track. I think it may be 15-30 minutes.

cgruber · Jul 19, 2008, 12:44 PM // 12:44

Build works well, however I'm going to suggest for farming to just aggro the first 2 groups of snowmen and pull them into a single group and kill those and resign. Takes forever to clear the dungeon with this.

Don Doggy · Jul 19, 2008, 08:04 PM // 20:04

Seems like an effective build will have to try this later.

MisterT69 · Jul 19, 2008, 09:10 PM // 21:10

awesome build. I only fight th efirst 2 mobs though, averaging around a minute, so definitely just as fast as raptors. Just not as many enemies :/

shaygo · Jul 22, 2008, 05:08 PM // 17:08

any suggestions to replace the faction skill ?