Curse

Solas · Aug 13, 2009, 01:01 PM // 13:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterB

Vehjin Mines. Leave from Jennur's Horde and head to the Holdings of Chokhin portal; there are 50 of them in hard mode near that portal. Zone back and forth at portal to reset. Unsure how many are in normal.

Would an ele be able to solo this or any other prof?

ll Jamie ll · Aug 13, 2009, 02:08 PM // 14:08

Well, i havn't tried stoneflesh yet but, it would be annoying i think.

Not really very profitable if you ask me, im just gonna do it with heroes + henchman, havn't tried the ole' spirit spam yet.

Tearmaker · Aug 13, 2009, 05:18 PM // 17:18

Well I guess I get to skip this week. Ran that path again for the last hour and didn't get one hide drop. But at least I have some krait skins - sigh.

MisterB · Aug 13, 2009, 08:46 PM // 20:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tearmaker

Do these things drop more in HM or NM ??... because I have been through this like 12 or 13 times and I only have 1 hide to show for it.

I'm running in NM right now with me and 3 heroes. Seems like I should have more to show for it.

I think the problem is the party size in your case. They have ~5% or more drop chance for me running duo(4 runs, 50 foes, and 10 drops, so 10 drops divided by 200 foes is 5%) and even more solo. It could be just random chance in my favor, though.

If anything, I think they would have a slightly higher chance to drop in normal because hard mode has more items available in the drop table and increased rare item chance. It seems to me that normal would be better for common drops like this, but proving it either way would require thousands of drops.

The reason I was farming them in hard is because I used a 600/smite build with Ogden and a solo "55" build on my Necromancer with 105 hp. Both builds used Spirit Bond, and foes hit faster as well, resulting in greater energy gain.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solas

Would an ele be able to solo this or any other prof?

I don't play elementalist, sorry. But any profession can 600/smite these guys. There's an excellent guide for 600/smite with different professions here. It's for Cathedral of Flames, but it should apply here as well.

Spirit spam apparently works: any profession except Paragon or Warrior could probably do that. A guide for spirit spam can be found here. Credit belongs to spun ducky and A Simple Farmer for those two builds.

If anyone wants my solo necro build, I posted here. It's really overkill on healing, because I'm bad at "55" builds when fighting lots of foes combined with heavy degen. Build inspired by Fuzzy Taco.
A monk primary could almost certainly use this build in reverse, too.

According to ReZDoGG's guide, a 330 Rt/Mo should be able to kill these behemoths. I don't play Ritualist, either.

Edit: Here is an Elementalist build and guide that will work here.

Also, it has occurred to me that the build I used should be able to adapt to other primary classes with Monk secondary. Just include damage skills and max the associated attribute. Sliver Armor or blocking in general would seem to have anti-synnergy with the build, but I don't play ele nor have I used that skill.

Coney · Aug 14, 2009, 01:03 AM // 01:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solas

Would an ele be able to solo this or any other prof?

Yes, pretty much any */Rit with a decent spirit spam build can solo it in HM, fairly rapidly too. War and Para will have problems given their energy regen, but I did it on an ele and ranger primary...

Rushin Roulette · Aug 14, 2009, 08:29 AM // 08:29

I've been using a variant of the 600 tank build;
Protective Spirit
Shield of Absorption
Spirit Bond
Rotting Flesh (Disease speeds things up just slightly, but I couldn't think of any other skill to put into this slot)
Necrotic Traversal (to stop the Gravebanes creating too many Minions which speeds up the run immensely)
Blessed Aura
Essence Bond
Balthazar's Spirit

With only 3 points in Death Magic Rotting Flesh lasts for 13 seconds which is more than enough to kill any group. Drops aren't too good, but its still 1-4 hids per run (mostly being 1 hide per 50 Behemoths).

Danger Russ · Aug 14, 2009, 04:35 PM // 16:35

Yep you can solo NM with ele. Ele/Derv

Here is my build: 16 earth, 10 ES, 9 earth prayers

Ebon Battle Standard of Honor
Sandstorm
Sliver Armor
Glyph of lesser energy
Stone Flesh Aura
Armor of Earth
Earth Attunement
Mystic Regeneration

This build can kill the boss but it is a close thing. I think I kill him 5 of 7 times. Keep MR and your defense up at all times. If you neglect MR you will die pretty quick. Set defenses and then wade in. Use EBSH and sliver, then wait until sliver is killing the second foe then drop a sandstorm. If attacking the boss, do not wait for something to die but wait a moment then drop sandstorm. Rinse and repeat until everything dies. Wand anything that runs away.

Usually get from 1-5 hides per run in the mines. Got a good number of vitae and attunement runes from armor.

This is my main reason for fooling with the traveler and gifts. It makes you come up with ways to solo a new group of monsters. I tried a number of earth build and this one is the most reliable for farming these creatures so far.

Tearmaker · Aug 14, 2009, 05:31 PM // 17:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterB

I think the problem is the party size in your case. They have ~5% or more drop chance for me running duo(4 runs, 50 foes, and 10 drops, so 10 drops divided by 200 foes is 5%) and even more solo. It could be just random chance in my favor, though.

If anything, I think they would have a slightly higher chance to drop in normal because hard mode has more items available in the drop table and increased rare item chance. It seems to me that normal would be better for common drops like this, but proving it either way would require thousands of drops.

The reason I was farming them in hard is because I used a 600/smite build with Ogden and a solo "55" build on my Necromancer with 105 hp. Both builds used Spirit Bond, and foes hit faster as well, resulting in greater energy gain.

I don't play elementalist, sorry. But any profession can 600/smite these guys. There's an excellent guide for 600/smite with different professions here. It's for Cathedral of Flames, but it should apply here as well.

Spirit spam apparently works: any profession except Paragon or Warrior could probably do that. A guide for spirit spam can be found here. Credit belongs to spun ducky and A Simple Farmer for those two builds.

If anyone wants my solo necro build, I posted here. It's really overkill on healing, because I'm bad at "55" builds when fighting lots of foes combined with heavy degen. Build inspired by Fuzzy Taco.
A monk primary could almost certainly use this build in reverse, too.

According to ReZDoGG's guide, a 330 Rt/Mo should be able to kill these behemoths. I don't play Ritualist, either.

Edit: Here is an Elementalist build and guide that will work here.

Also, it has occurred to me that the build I used should be able to adapt to other primary classes with Monk secondary. Just include damage skills and max the associated attribute. Sliver Armor or blocking in general would seem to have anti-synnergy with the build, but I don't play ele nor have I used that skill.

Thanks for the info. I finially made a spirit spammer out of my ranger and soloed the thing. I got 8 hides in one run

I guess GW was saveing them up till I did what it wanted me too.

Kaitoa · Aug 14, 2009, 07:28 PM // 19:28

First week since farming Djinn for Nick that its actually been worth farming drops to sell. Obviously people have been finding the going tough, so many are willing to pay for the drops instead of farming them themselves. Ive been farming hides with 600 been getting 5-8 per run, easy money really.

Fay Vert · Aug 15, 2009, 04:30 PM // 16:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by SharonC

In my opinion, the best way to have handled the problem with Nicholas would have been to leave him in place with a repaired text. That would have been the best thing for the players. It would have helped prevent people from having lost time, it would have kept people who didn't know about the change from losing money by buying items they thought he was collecting but no longer was.

I share your opinion and am somewhat stunned that ANet didn't do this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrettM

I think ANet knew that, and it is unfair to assume they wouldn't see something so obvious. I also think it may not have been possible for them to do.

I'm sick of this pathetic "oh, it might be too hard to do" excuse. They could have just done nothing and left it as a very minor anomally. What is unfair is that many players have been grinding away for nothing.

Fril Estelin · Aug 15, 2009, 08:01 PM // 20:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fay Vert

What is unfair is that many players have been grinding away for nothing.

Not completely true: Linsey said this location and the Krait skins were for Nick's position in a year's time. So these players have them for next year. It's still bad for those that paid for them, but well, get over it.

lilDeath · Aug 16, 2009, 12:32 AM // 00:32

Man, this week's farming was utter crap. Worst yet!

I tried 3 different chars, Spirit spamming (group of 4), solo SF sin, and ended up with doing 600 / smite (2-man).
9 hours and 15k sunspear points later I finally have all my behemoth hides. The most I got in one run was 5, which happened once, then I got a few 3's in a run, some 2's in a run and the vast majority was 1 hide in 50 kills and some runs were completely dry.

!@#$%!!....

AngelWJedi · Aug 16, 2009, 05:57 AM // 05:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fril Estelin

Not completely true: Linsey said this location and the Krait skins were for Nick's position in a year's time. So these players have them for next year. It's still bad for those that paid for them, but well, get over it.

and how do we know that we(peeps that got gifts with the skins) will be able to get gifts with them then? and i am glad at least i didnt have to farm for the hides.

ll Jamie ll · Aug 16, 2009, 02:37 PM // 14:37

Confirmed: Nicholas hates me.

25 mysterious tonics

..
*roll eyes*

Vilaptca · Aug 16, 2009, 06:46 PM // 18:46

First week I've ever bought the item he was collecting. These just weren't dropping for me at all. I don't have many characters that far in Nightfall, so I was kind of limited to going out with hero/hench on my warrior. I hope next week's drops a little better than these ones did.

Bingobomb · Aug 17, 2009, 01:16 AM // 01:16

10 stones, 10 tonics, 10 bottle rockets this week. o.O

Arduin · Aug 17, 2009, 01:00 PM // 13:00

Skipped farming the items this week, hopefully he'll be wanting something a bit more fun to farm after he has moved today

FalconDance · Aug 17, 2009, 02:13 PM // 14:13

No pressies for me or for husband this week. I think he ended up with three hides after *many* runs with various builds. (Don't know if he turned those in for a gift or not.) In all the while NF has been out, with all my girls who could find Behemoths (and send them back to Grenth), I can only remember seeing one drop - two if I give the benefit of a faulty memory!

Darkstar The Legend · Aug 17, 2009, 03:04 PM // 15:04

He has just moved. So the search begins again.

DonCorleoneCS · Aug 17, 2009, 03:11 PM // 15:11

Nic has moved....on the run now