Curse

joshuarodger · Jan 29, 2008, 08:02 AM // 08:02

OK this is a guide for the dervish destroyer core farming. It is my first guide so, please, forgive any deviations from guides you may normally see on this site. It took me a long time to perfect this build and make it effecient enough to be able to make it through 85% or so of runs. This run is only for the first wave of destroyers of Glint’s Challenge and only takes 3-5 minutes to complete. I usually ended up with 1-4 destroyer cores from each run and the occasional dye, lockpick, etc. Any suggestions are welcome on how to make it 100% successful.

I got the idea for this build from threads started by don’t feel no pain and sethellington, so I can’t take all the credit here. The problem with their builds was that neither of them had a dervish to test it out, so I don't think either knew how bad HP/E mgmt could be without the extra armor of a warrior or E of a caster profession. They both had great ideas and gave me a head start on this build and honestly, without reading their posts, I probably would not have been able to come up with this on my own. Here are the links to their original threads.

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10219126
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10217319

My Skills and Attributes (D/Rt):
Restoration Magic: 12
Earth Prayers: 12+1
Norn Rank: 4

Vengeful was Kanhei {E}
Mend Body and Soul
Conviction
I am Unstoppable
Signet of Pious Light
Alkar’s Alchemical Acid

Equipment:

Amiresh’s Piety
E+12 (Req 12 Prot Prayers)
E+15
E Regen -1
HP +30
I used Amiresh's Piety because I had it in storage and it gave me 21 extra E when I dropped the ashes, which was more than enough to recast VwK.
Any Wand with Extra Energy mod or Armor mod should work
Herald’s Insignias on all armor items (max armor of course)

Ranger Hero Skills and Attributes (R/Rt):

Beast Mastery: 8
Expertise: 10+2
Wilderness Survival: 12+3+1
Restoration Magic: 2

Serpent’s Quickness
Quickening Zephyr
Edge of Extinction
Life
Mend Body and Soul

Before doing this run, I suggest you watch Don’t Feel No Pain’s videos from the second link because they will give you an idea of where to stand and what to do. For whatever reason, the skills they were using on their characters were just not working for me and energy management was a real problem. Hence SoPL. 100+ point heal and no E cost. Also I swapped out Vengeful Weapon for MBaS. The E cost was the same but you get more HP and you don’t have to take any dmg for it to work. Conviction, in this case, is a health regen skill because you are not enchanted. At times you don’t even need Conviction, so if you’re low on E just don’t use it. I really only used AAA as a mop-up skill when there were only 1-2 destroyers left. You really need to keep VwK and Unstoppable up at all times. With your ranger’s QZ, both skills recharge just as they end (as long as you’re Norn Rank 4). Not only that, but as VwK expires, you get an E spike when you drop the ashes and pick up your weapon and offhand item, so you will always have E for VwK. You need to manage your E so that when Unstoppable runs out you can recast it. Also remember that with QZ up, skills cost more E to use, about 7 E instead of 5.

I used a Rt secondary on my ranger because I was familiar with those skills and they didn’t cost much E to use. If you're more familiar with a monk and you can find some cheap, effecient heals to put on your ranger, you may want to go that route. You can do the run without EoE but I found that it went faster if you used it. If your ranger gets tight on E just don’t use it. I also set my Ranger to avoid combat just so she (I used Acolyte Jin) wouldn’t draw any of the destroyers’ attention. I gave her a couple Healing spells to help me out if I got in a pinch with E and HP. So if you get low on health and/or E use her MBaS to heal you for about 30-35 points and cast Life occasionally so that when it dies you get a little HP boost. The important thing to remember here is to make sure she has enough E to recast QZ when it runs out. QZ, along with VwK, is what this build depends on. When I did this run I always kept a check mark on QZ so that when it recharged, it would be cast again and I kept my hero flagged near the tip of the left wing of the baby dragon so she was out of aggro range but I was still in range of her spirits and casting.

Here is what I did (sorry no Video):
1. When last Dwarven Soldier dies and destroyers come down ramp - Cast ranger's EoE followed by SQ. Always try to activate SQ before QZ to cut down recharge time on QZ.
2. Select the Dwarven Scout nearest you so you can watch his HP. When his HP is about 50% cast QZ. After this point QZ should always be up. If it ever fails there is a very good chance your run is over.
3. When QZ is up cast Life. Recast this skill occasionally throughout the run when your ranger has E, however, make sure when QZ is recharged she has enough E to cast it.
4. SELECT YOURSELF AS TARGET. Do this so that if you have to cast your ranger’s MBaS, it targets you and not her.
5. When Dwarven Scout nearest you dies run into the action and cast Conviction and Unstoppable on your way in.
6. By this time the second Dwarven Scout should be dead or almost dead. If he is not dead stand near (NOT adjacent to) him and cast VwK. If you stand adjacent to him you take dmg from spirit rifts cast on him. When he dies, stand over or near his corpse and don’t move. At this spot you can aggro destroyers coming down both ramps.
7. When your HP drops to around 50% cast SoPL immediately!! If that doesn’t get you back near max HP cast your MBaS. And if that still doesn’t work cast your ranger’s MBaS.
8. Recast VwK and Unstoppable when recharged and other skills as needed.

As I said earlier I don’t make it through every run. Sometimes I get hit with a couple Chaos Storms when I’m recasting VwK and it steals all my E or I don’t have enough E to cast unstoppable or I get hit with a couple back to back spirit rifts or any number of things. QZ and VwK are the keys to this build, along with the extra armor from your insignias and Unstoppable. It took time and practice to be able to get the timing right between my skills and my ranger’s skills since I was activating ALL of the skills, not just my own. I set my skills to be activated by the number pad and my Hero 1’s skills to activate by the keyboard numbers. This seemed to help out a lot with timing. But to each his own. Feel free to leave feedback, positive or negative, ask questions, or just make fun of me on this thread. Also you can PM me in-game for quick comments or questions if you would like. For a better visualization on where to stand or flag your ranger, watch the videos I mentioned earlier.

joshuarodger · Feb 17, 2008, 03:36 AM // 03:36

It's working about 95% of the time now. I quit using any caster weapons or foci and they quit casting chaos storm at me. I just use a basic run-of the-mill scythe. I also took all skills off my ranger except SQ and QZ. Seems like the only time i die now is when i just stop paying attention.

Sirius-NZ · Feb 17, 2008, 10:26 AM // 10:26

Aren't destroyer cores subject to loot scaling? If so you might as well run 8-man, and in fact 1-4 sounds pretty similar to the drop rates I was getting doing that...

If you're farming for the other stuff it makes sense, though.

joshuarodger · Feb 18, 2008, 09:24 PM // 21:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirius-NZ

Aren't destroyer cores subject to loot scaling? If so you might as well run 8-man, and in fact 1-4 sounds pretty similar to the drop rates I was getting doing that...

If you're farming for the other stuff it makes sense, though.

Yeah they are subject to loot scaling but when i try Glint's with 8 people or H/H i never seem to get as many cores through the first wave, which is what this is for. And as you stated the other drops, gold weapons, dyes, lockpicks etc. are much better with just a ranger hero. Plus it only takes like 3.5 minutes to make it through the first wave rather than doing all of the challenge with a full team

Sirius-NZ · Feb 19, 2008, 07:04 AM // 07:04

Never seem? That would either suggest loot scaling is broken or your perception is skewed somehow...

And I know the first stage is the best for core farming - I only ran the first stage myself - I just H/Hed while doing so.

joshuarodger · Feb 19, 2008, 04:52 PM // 16:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirius-NZ

Never seem? That would either suggest loot scaling is broken or your perception is skewed somehow...

And I know the first stage is the best for core farming - I only ran the first stage myself - I just H/Hed while doing so.

Well i will never say that my perception isn't skewed, because it almost always is, one way or another.

When i go with my 1 ranger hero, i get 3 or 4 cores fairly often, not to mention a lot of dyes, and the occasional lockpick and gold drop. When i go with a full H/H team, which i did fairly often when i first attempted Glint's, the runs with these sorts of drops seemed few and far between. Plus i don't have to split the cash drops with 8 characters and the white, blue, purple drops that go straight to the merchant really add up also. But like i said, my perception may be skewed or maybe loot scaling is 100% fool proof. Either way i make it through the run in about 3.5-4 minutes so it's not like i'm losing any time, and my ego gets a little massage when i show a newer player how i do it and they go WOW!

Sirius-NZ · Feb 19, 2008, 10:06 PM // 22:06

Wouldn't surprise me THAT much if loot scaling is broken.