Curse

Shiing! · Mar 03, 2008, 06:01 PM // 18:01

Hello everyone.

I decided to make this guide because to be honest, I've been in quite a few PUG's over the weekend and some people actually knew the 'way' to go, and some didn't.
After some consideration, I've managed to work out a pretty much solid route that will allow you to gather the most amount of points possible in the shortest time possible to complete the run. Obviously the shorter the run, the more points you could potentially earn.

Alright, first, you'll need the team. Sacnoth Valley, where you will be completing the run, contains a variety of enemies from Charr, Grawl, Elementals (Fire and Earth) and obviously several bosses to boost your points. Whilst these enemies aren't too much of a worry for the right build, small mistakes could lead to a party wipe pretty quickly if you're not prepared.

Another thing that could make your run much faster is using the Essence of Celerity consumable available from the guy in Rata Sum. This cuts the run time down to around 40/45 minutes with a decent party. Simply use it just before you enter the Fiery Forest.

Time Taken: ~1 Hour
Points Gathered from Run: Min: 10k, Max: 34k (Max I've ever gotten anyway.)

To make the run easier for everyone, simply use the standard Ursan build: 6 Ursan's, 2 HB Monks. If you're going to try and tackle this without Ursan (I have never tried it), I would probably reccomend atleast 3 Monks, a Warrior tank, SS/MM Necro, Two Fire elementalists and a class of your choice like a Splinter Barrager for example.

Running There
You'll need to start from Doomlore Shrine. Exit out of the portal into the Dalada Uplands explorable area and make your way south-east toward the portal taking you into Sacnoth. It's in the very far bottom-left-hand corner of the Uplands. It'd probably be best to run here, although there one group of Charr that need to be fought pretty much prompt to the start to allow a safe passing.

Sacnoth Valley
Part 1
Once you've got there, take the blessing and head south, hugging the right wall as you go. Avoid the Fiery Forest (I like to call it) for now, and when you run out of left wall, hug the right. Kill everything on the way. Please note that when entering the field to the far-left of the screenshot, only kill one group - you will need the other groups to maintain any rampages you acquire later. The route so far is shown in the picture below:

Part 2
By the stage in the picture above, you should have killed somewhere between 90-110 enemies. Continue around to the shrine, avoiding the South wall. A boss is here that we will tackle later:

Part 3
This is where we enter the Fiery Forest. In here, the only enemies that spawn are Flowstone Elementals, Burning Spirit's and Magma Blister's. These are easy enough to kill if you tackle small groups. They are well spread out so simply pull them and ensure your Monks stay well out of aggro range to avoid getting burned by the ground in some areas (going near the trees that're on fire will also cause burning). By now you should be on 150+ enemies killed. Note that there will be a boss in this area (I forget the name, sorry) .. That roams with a group of Burning Spirit's. You can kill it now, regardless of the bonus, or you could come back and get it later, it's your choice. By killing now you only get 200 or so points less, so it's no big deal to kill it now and saves quite a bit of time.

Part 4
Continue around the left wall, going around it clockwise. Make sure you explore the crevice there a group of Grawl are sat having some kind of campfire or something. Lol. You'll eventually come to an opening that leads around the wall still, and eventually a shrine. By the time you take the shrine, you should be on around 150-160 enemies killed.

Part 5
Continue, as before, around the left wall. Eventually you'll find yourself out of the forest and into the green again (yay!). By now you should be on around 180 enemies killed. Shortly after exiting the forest, you will meet our second boss of the run. Fozzy Yeoryios. Ignore him for now, and carry on past the group on the other side of the big rock in the middle, hugging the left wall. Kill any enemies you see in the field ahead, which should boost you up to 200 kills to gather a little more bonus from killing the boss:

Part 6
After you've reached 200, track back to the other side of the rock and kill the boss. He is surrounded by several Grawl Dark Priest's, which you will obviously want to take out one by one. Several Ursans attacking a single Ritualist healer will take each down in seconds, so try to make sure your party is organised properly, attacking the same target.

Part 7
Alright, so that's 2 bosses down. We're still not onto 250 yet, so we need to get that sorted. Easy peasy. Continue along the south-most wall, obviously killing everything in sight. A few groups of Tumbled Elementals will cross your path which are easy enough to take out. You will enter a large field with lots of pop up-Worms and a huge party of Grawl around another boss. Ignore this for now and continue along the left wall, eventually getting to a shrine:

By now, you should be on between 220-240 enemies slain.

Part 8
Continue, like before, along the left wall, up the Worm field killing everything you see along the set path. Try not to stray into the middle too much as this simply wastes time.

Part 9
By this time, you should have easily passed the 250 mark. Now it's ready to kill some bosses. This is near the end of the run, as to keep to time you simply run for the bosses now you've hit the 250 mark. Continue around the Worm field and make your way to the Grawl boss, Cobleri Arronn. He is, like the last boss, surrounded by several priests and Grawl Champions, etc. Ensure your party lures the champions a fair distance away and takes them out as this area is a high risk of overaggro and a party wipe. Dispose of the boss.

Part 10
Continue along the path shown below, toward the shrine in the Charr field we visited earlier. If you wish to keep up any Rampages, simply dispose of all the Charr in this field for some extra points too.

Part 11
As always, let's continue. North this time, again along the left wall. In the top left-hand corner of the Valley, you will fine another shrine where you'll be able to gather some extra points/rank up ready to tackle a few bosses. Then make your way south again past the way you just came toward the 'Charr Fort', as I like to call it:

There are three bosses here: Anmat The Trickster, Kayte Bloodburner and Spafrod Iceblood, surrounded by some Charr's along each of the four corners of the fort. Firstly, lure the Charr away and kill those before going in to tackle the bosses. The bosses are easy to kill and by now, depending on bonuses, you will gather 1-3k for killing each boss.

Continue past the bosses, north-east.

Part 12
One more boss left now, a Warrior. Shons The Pretender is his name. He can be found on the location shown below, simply kill him in one-go (his group autoaggro's anyway), to complete your run.

Here's a map of the whole run, including boss locations, etc:

Suggestions are highly welcome. I will add things if I remember them lately and note edits at the bottom.
Thankyou and I hope the guide helps.

thunderai · Mar 03, 2008, 06:51 PM // 18:51

Looks Nice and complate. Thank you for the information

Shiing! · Mar 03, 2008, 06:54 PM // 18:54

Welcome

I hope people will find it useful.

Loco roco · Mar 03, 2008, 07:30 PM // 19:30

wow very indepth. Never realised there was a vanguard farm area. Thank alot cant wait to max out vanguard title.

Edit: hey guildie :P

Elendhor · Mar 03, 2008, 07:33 PM // 19:33

Hey, nice Guide imo :-)

So, you vanquish the area at the same time I guess?
Another question: Is it easy to find people for the runs?

Shiing! · Mar 03, 2008, 07:37 PM // 19:37

Yeah, once the run is finished, Elendhor, I usually have 400+ enemies killed with only around 50 to go to Vanquish. I did Vanquish this area whilst doing this run, yeah - piece of cake

Note that if you are going to vanquish, make sure your team decides this before you leave Doomlore so you can take the same route but ensure you kill everything on the way to save time later.

And to your second question, yeah, it is. Go to Doomlore .. Say LFP HM Ebon Farming .. See what turns up

Helps if your Norn rank is decent.

Spider Pig · Mar 03, 2008, 08:08 PM // 20:08

Good job!

I didn't know that there is a Vanguard farming place, I might try that sometime.

Larcen · Mar 03, 2008, 08:29 PM // 20:29

Well written, now if I can just come across a good, organized team to do some of these runs, I'll be set. Perhaps if you haven't reached rank 10 yet, we'll run into one another in Doomlore Shrine.

Shiing! · Mar 03, 2008, 08:40 PM // 20:40

I reached Rank 10 yesterday, but it's very easy to find a party

You'll be there in no time. Took me about 6/7 runs.

Magical Samurai · Mar 03, 2008, 11:00 PM // 23:00

Wow, nice run and great guide - I'll have to see if there are any PUGs there I can grab.
Wish I had known this during the weekend though, would've really put some effort into Vanguard xD

-Magical Samurai

baz777 · Mar 03, 2008, 11:57 PM // 23:57

Very nice guide and much appreciated

Not started on this title yet but will bookmark this

Thanks

Vic · Mar 04, 2008, 01:09 AM // 01:09

Thanks!
Very good one, bookmarked!

-Vic

Nemo the Capitalist · Mar 04, 2008, 02:36 AM // 02:36

good guide ..

Ekina · Mar 04, 2008, 03:07 PM // 15:07

Hello

Very usefull guide, thanks

But... Is it interesting now, without the Special Week end ?

I think, whithout that, it can be a waste of time now. HM Books are still better without the Double Point Event.

I can make a mistake, forsure

Shiing! · Mar 04, 2008, 04:00 PM // 16:00

Hmm, well without the weekend, the points you will get are between 10-20k in an hour. Meaning that as long as you get 15k per hour or so, these are still more effective than a single HM handbook.

Proff · Mar 04, 2008, 04:40 PM // 16:40

Great guide, already maxed the title though.

baltazar knight · Mar 04, 2008, 08:56 PM // 20:56

tyvm nice guide still r5 atm >.> i will try this soon *bookmarked*

_June · Mar 13, 2008, 09:14 AM // 09:14

been looking for a vanguard farm area, thought I was going to have to complete HM books to max the title >.<

thanks for the guide

Baird · Mar 23, 2008, 09:24 PM // 21:24

I have to try this out soon. Ive been looking for a good vanguard point farming technique

Koross · Mar 24, 2008, 03:43 AM // 03:43

Very well written guide with pictures to further show how the run is done. This guide is complete and a boon to have.

Now ... someone has to make a guide for Norn and Asura runs.