Curse

Maxiemonster · Dec 23, 2006, 04:58 PM // 16:58

Introduction:
For those who don't know, pre-searing is the place you start in when you start a Prophecies character. Pre-searing is an area that has it's own restrictions, making this fun for many people. Recently a title has been added for reaching level 20 in pre-searing (Legendary Defender of Ascalon), and this got me back into playing. Pre-searing is not for people who don't like grinding, seeing that's pretty much all you do.

Professions:
Picking the right profession is very important. Of course, every profession can play in pre-searing, and the most important thing is that you have fun. The thing is that when you're going for the higher levels, some are more favored then others, and dying might frustrate you, so choose wisely. I'll tell you the pros and cons of each profession. All skills can be obtained for both your primary and secondary profession unless stated otherwise.

Warrior:
The Warrior can be very effective, maybe even the most effective, but the problem with the warrior is that he is very gear dependend. The axe skills are quite powerful, but finding a good axe is very hard. The sword skills are decent, but not quite as effective as the axe ones, finding a good sword is also quite hard, but the Rinblade gotten from the crafter in Ascalon is fairly good. Also, since runes are very hard to find in pre-searing, this also reduces the effectiveness of your weapons. A nice alternative is using the Rhino's Charge Hammer from the Game of the Year edition.

Keep in mind that you can use different weapon types. Most effective when using axe skills, and occasionally switching to a sword to put conditions on your foe, or even hammer bash to knock your foe down, seeing all these are Adrenaline skills, there's not much that would stop you from using this.

When you're hunting Charr you should keep in mind that, even though you have the highest armor in pre-searing, you're quite vurnerable. You can die pretty quickly, and if your damage isn't high enough you can easily die against a three or four man group.

Killing order: Charr Shaman > Charr Ashen Claw (1) > Charr Blade Storm/Axe Fiend > Charr Hunter > Charr Ashen Claw (2) > Charr Chaot

These are the warrior skills:
Healing Signet*
Gash*
Sever Artery*
Frenzy
Executioner's Strike
Cyclone Axe
Hammer Bash

Ranger:
Just like warriors, rangers are quite effective, but very gear dependend. The major difference is that with the Game of the Year edition you've got the Nevermore Flatbow, which is a very strong bow, making the ranger very effective. If you do not have acces to this bow, it'll be hard to find a good bow, and ranger wouldn't be quite worth it.

A nice combination of bow skills is Power Shot, Dual Shot and Read the Wind, trying to max your Marksmanship out, and put a decent ammount of points in Expertise (breakpoints at 2, 4 and 7). The rest of your points will be put in Beast Mastery, to slighty increase the defence of your pet or Wilderness Survival, to increase you Troll Unguent. Keep in mind that a Ranger can't shoot through walls, making it important that your pet tanks.

When hunting Charr you should always try to let your pet take full aggro. Try using the higher grounds, as your damage will increase alot like this. When you get in a nasty situation, don't be afraid to use the walls to defend yourself from wand attacks, and especially arrows. You might not be able to kill them this way, but you can heal yourself with Troll Unguent and/or Ether Feast.

Killing order: Charr Shaman > Charr Ashen Claw (1) > Charr Blade Storm/Axe Fiend > Charr Hunter > Charr Ashen Claw (2) > Charr Chaot

These are the ranger skills:
Power Shot (primary only)
Troll Unguent*
Comfort Animal*
Charm Animal*
Dual Shot
Read the Wind
Point Blank Shot
Ignite Arrows

Monk
Just like in post-searing, the monk is more a healing profession then a damage dealing profession. Bane Signet and Banish can be used even when standing behind walls, making it possible to solo most groups of Charr quite well, even though it's quite slow. Watch out for warriors, kill these as soon as you can, since these usually don't stay behind the wall. I advice not to solo, unless you take a secondary profession.

Because of the high recharge time of Shielding Hands, the Protection Prayers line isn't as useful. Even though Reversal of Fortune is quite nice, Healing Breeze and Orison of Healing outheal those two skills. The smiting skills are quite good, so a combination of Healing Prayers, Divine Favor and Smiting Prayers is most common.

Equipement isn't as important on a monk, but ideal would be the Wolf's Favor from the Game of they Year edition when using 9 Divine Favor, otherwise, when you don't have the 9 Divine Favor, use the Soul Shrieker instead.

Even though you're a monk, your biggest defence will be the walls. When you aggro a group, make sure that only the Charr Blade Storms/Axe Fiends can hit you with their normal attacks. First kill the Charr Shaman, then go for the warriors. Wait untill they're BOTH in Frenzy and cast Smybol of Wrath, then finish them with Bane Signet/Banish. The rest will be easy, as they won't be able to deal much damage when you're behind the wall, and you've got more then enough healing. When one of the Charr somehow sneaks past the wall, and you've got nowhere else to hide from him, remember to target him first.

Killing order: Charr Shaman > Charr Blade Storm/Axe Fiend > Charr Hunter > Charr Chaot > Charr Ashen Claw

These are the monk skills:
Healing Breeze (primary only)
Orison of Healing*
Bane Signet*
Banish
Symbol of Wrath
Retribution
Reversal of Fortune

Shielding Hands

Necromancer:
The Necromancer is quite powerful, seeing that it can deal alot of damage and heal itself at the same time. Also, the Necromancer can slow down the rangers and warriors greatly using Faintheartedness. Vampiric Gaze, Life Siphon and Deathly Swarm can be used when standing behind walls, making it possible to solo most groups of Charr quite quickly. The Blood Magic line is probably the most powerful, as keep minions alive is quite hard (you'd be better of as a Mo/N in that case).

The Soul Shrieker from the Game of the Year edition is definitly the best choice for a Necromancer, especially when you have 9 Curses, making it possible to deal 11-22 damage with it as well.

Use Life Siphon for a constant degen/regen on your foe/you, and Vampiric Gaze/Touch for healing and damage. Use Faintheartedness on the warriors or at the Hunters when they're able to hit you to reduce their damage greatly. When all the warriors have Faintheartedness on them, kill the Shaman, and then the warriors.

Killing order: Charr Shaman > Charr Blade Storm/Axe Fiend > Charr Chaot > Charr Ashen Claw > Charr Hunter

These are the necromancer skills:
Vampiric Gaze (primary only)
Deathly Swarm*
Animate Bone Horror*
Life Siphon*
Blood Renewal
Vampiric Touch
Faintheartedness
Soul Barbs

Mesmer:
The Mesmer is probably the best at solo'ing Charr when you do not have the right equipement for a Warrior or Ranger. Empathy is great against Warriors and Rangers, Ether Feast can be used for healing, Backfire can kill casters quickly, and Shatter Delusions can be used to make the hex end with a worthy amount of damage. Empathy, Backfire and Shatter Delusions are all in the Dominition Magic line, so it's advised to put must of your skill points in there, and the rest in Inspiriation Magic and Fast Casting.

The best equipement would be the Luminescent Scepter from the Game of the Year edition when you have a decent off-hand, otherwise the Soul Shrieker will be just as great.

As the Mesmer mainly relies on Empathy and Backfire to do their job you won't be killing them one by one, but more damaging several at the same time. Shamans are completly shut down by Backfire, so try to get it on as soon as possible, kill him with Shatter Delusions. After this, start focusing on the warriors, throwing Empathy on them and maybe using Shatter Delusions.

Focusing order: Charr Shaman > Charr Blade Storm/Axe Fiend > Charr Chaot > Charr Ashen Claw > Charr Hunter

These are the mesmer skills:
Empathy (primary only)
Ether Feast*
Conjure Phantasm*
Imagined Burden*
Backfire
Shatter Delusions

Elementalist:
Elementalists might seem nice, but are probably the weakest character for killing Charr. Fire Storm can be used through walls, but has a high recharge time. Aura of Restoration is decent healing, but usually not enough, and Flare can't be used through walls. Blinding Flash is nice to blind enemies, but it'd require a couple of points in Air Magic, which is a waste. I don't advice to take the elementalist unless you want a high level elementalist badly or want a good challenge. Elementalists can be effective with a secondary profession however.

You'd probably be best off with the Soul Shrieker from the Game of the Year edition, as the Tiger's Roar off-hand requires 9 Energy Storage, which you won't reach.

Focusing order: Charr Shaman > Charr Blade Storm/Axe Fiend > Charr Chaot > Charr Ashen Claw > Charr Hunter

These are the elementalist skills:
Flare (primary only)
Aura of Restoration*
Fire Storm*
Glyph of Lesser Energy*
Blinding Flash
Lightning Javelin

Secondary profession:
Seeing that you shouldn't complete any quests untill you're level 19 if you want to go for level 20, you probably won't be taking any secondary profession. However, you can still use the skills you can take from the profession trials. I've marked the skills that are possible to obtain this way with a *.
Most people take ranger as their "trial profession", as a pet can be very effective in pre-searing, even without any points in Beast Mastery. Of course, a ranger can't get a ranger secondary, so it's adviced to take Mesmer for the healing of Ether Feast (51 health) instead. A Mesmer or Necromancer might want to go for Elementalist instead, as then you have acces to the Glyph of Lesser Energy.

Legendary Defender of Ascalon:
This is the title most people go through all this trouble for. First of all, if you don't have the chance of leaving your computer on 24/7, don't go for this title, as that's really going to be needed.

Level 1-2:
Simply do the first quest, and kill enemies untill you're level 2. You might also want to get some collectors armor (especially when you're playing warrior), making this a bit longer. See the collector's armor section for this.

Level 2-X:
There are several ways to go through the first part. The most effective way is probably simply by killing Black Bears, Bandits, Skales, Aloë Seeds, Elementals and Spiders in Wizard's Folly, starting from Foible's Fair. These enemies are all level 2 or 3, and as they're all so close to eachother, you can just keep killing. Although, these enemies are only level 2 or 3, which is quite low if you want to get to level 8+. In this case you should start doing the Charr At the Gate quest (from Prince Rurik in Ascalon) over an over again. This quest will lead you to four level 4 or 5 Charr, this can get you to level 10 or even 11.

Level X-14:
Go to the Northlands over and over again, kill the Charr you want to kill, and restart. These runs will take quite long in the beginning, but once you get higher level and you get used to the runs you'll do this in no-time. Keep in mind that you need at least 2 players to go to the Northlands, on pulling the lever, and one going through the gate. You can still solo however, but this'll require you to pay someone 50-100g to pull the lever for you (which isn't that bad, as you'll earn 200-500g each run).

Level 14-16:
A bit more boring then the previous level. You'll have to do the same as last level, the only difference is that the only one giving you experience are the Charr bosses located at the altar in the Northlands. This'll take quite long compared to the previous levels, even though you can skip alot of enemies, and go straight for the bosses.

NOTE: You get a bit more then 2% for killing the four Charr bosses on level 14, and a bit more then 1% on level 15.

Level 16-19:
Now for the afk'ing part. This'll take alot of time (and probably alot of whining from your mother, telling you to turn off your computer) so be patient, it won't take much time being active, but it'll require your computer to be on several hundred hours. You do this by so called "death leveling", you lure (several) enemies towards a ressurection shrine, and make them kill you over and over again. Every time you ressurect, you'll aggro them again, and they'll kill you again. Eventually they'll level up as far as level 13-20, and you'll get experience again.
There are several monsters that you can lure to a ressurection shrine. The most popular are the Striders outside of Ashford Abbey and Striders/Moss Spiders outside the Barradin Estate, which are easily lured, easily to hold aggro off, and simply the greatest chance of succes. However, the Charr in the Northlands are also possible to lure to the ressurection shrine. This'll require alot more time though, as you'll have to let the NPC's at that ressurection shrine be killed first, and they might not always keep aggro for as long as you'd like them to be. These Charr level up in groups however, make this three or four times as fast.

Level 19-20:
Now it's time to do all those quests. You can also get a secondary profession now. The quests won't get you as close to level 20 as you'd like them to, but it was definitly worth it. The remaining part will still require death leveling, but you just saved you (or at least your computer) another hundred hours of afk'ing.

Other stuff you might like to know:
Armor:
There are two sets of armors in pre-searing, the collector's armor and the starter armor. The start armor is obtained when you create your character, and you can get the collector's armor at various points of pre-searing. The only character that I truly recommend this armor for is the Warrior, as that armor actually makes a noticable difference. For all other professions it's not extremly important, as it only adds 2 armor on every set, so I'd say just go for the looks.

You can obtain the collector's armor here:
Leggings: Fort Ranik - 3 Spider Legs
Chest: Fort Ranik - 5 Unatuaral Seeds
Boots: Catacombs (near the entrance near Barradin Estate outpost) - 5 Gargoyle Skulls
Gloves: Just ouside of Foible's Fair - 3 Icy Lodestones

Some basic Charr hunting tactics:
Charr hunting is quite hard, especially for lower level characters, but with a couple of nice tricks it can be made alot easier. First of all, don't be afraid to run away. There's nothing wrong with running away when you're about to die, and having to walk back all the way from the beginning will really frustrate you after a while. Running away can be made even more effective by making a high defense set. The perfect set would be the shield from the Bandit Raid quest combined with the Rinblade obtained from the crafter in Ascalon City, Arthur Ayala.

Also, when you can, use the walls as your defense. Stand behind them constantly when you can kill your enemies by doing so, or just use them for a quick way to heal yourself without getting hit. Good pulling and good positioning is crucial here.

Game of the Year edition:
I've talked alot about Game of the Year edition items in this guide, so I'll explain what these items are. The Game of the Year edition was a different version of guild wars that (as far as I know) was only released in Europe. This version contained several max damage items that were quite useful, especially in pre-searing. Recently however, you can also upgrade your standard Prophecies account to a Game of the Year account in the in-game store. This only costs €5,- and is probably worth it for all pre-searing characters.

These are the Game of the Year edition items:
Tiger's Roar (Elementalist Focus)
Nevermore Flatbow (Bow)
Rhino's Charge (Hammer)
Serrated Shield (Shield)
Wolf's Favor (Monk Focus)
Luminescent Scepter (Mesmer Wand)
Soul Shrieker (Necromancer Staff)

The Guild Hall exploit:
Several people (including me) used an exploit that got your pre-searing character into the guild hall. This way you could transfer all your post-searing items back to pre-searing, and this way there are alot of items in pre-searing that originally weren't there. Items transfered contained bags, experience scrolls, superior runes, high-end green/gold/purple items and superior salvage kits. Alot of these items are in use by high level pre-searing character or have been lost over time, so these items are very rare these days. If you might ever come across an exploited item that you'd like to buy, expect to be paying alot of gold for it.

Drops:
The weapons dropped in pre-searing usually can't compete with the ones obtained through the guild hall exploit or Game of the Year edition, but if you don't have acces to those, you'll have to get your weapons from buying them from others, or drops from Charr. You can't get gold items in pre-searing, but purple ones drop quite often in the Northlands. The items here are far from maximum damage, but are definitly good enoug hto kill the Charr with. You can also get blue armor drops (purple armors don't drop anymore), containing a minor rune, even though this has become very rare compared to how often they used to drop. Getting the rune salvaged is hard though, as the you'll need to find someone with a Superior Salvage Kit, this costs about 50K pre-searing gold each salvage (you can whisper me if you want me to help you get a salvage for this price).

Factions Preview Event exploit:
This exploit isn't as known as the guild hall exploit, but it's at least as amazing. During the Guild Wars: Factions previews event you could create a character in pre-searing with a full skill bar, including an elite skill and several other high-end skills. There aren't any known characters that still have these skills however, and it's said that ArenaNet removed all the characters with these skills.

God Apprentice · Dec 29, 2006, 09:33 AM // 09:33

Maxie your guide is very good, and as you were at one time on your way to 20 in pre searing I would think that it would be you who would be able to write a guide, unlike if you were say, level 12 or something and tried making a guide.

Maxiemonster · Dec 29, 2006, 08:33 PM // 20:33

Thanks for the support

I'll try to edit it a bit later, including details about death leveling and charr hunting, with pictures and all. Thought it'd be good for now, didn't feel like doing it all at once.

Yunas Ele · Dec 29, 2006, 09:01 PM // 21:01

great guide, thanks.

didn't char dleveling get nerfed though?

Sword · Dec 29, 2006, 09:37 PM // 21:37

i have 2 minor runes that i would like to have salvaged but im not paying a ton of gold for it .. whats the best attempt to try to salvage this?

Covah · Dec 29, 2006, 09:53 PM // 21:53

you can only salvage them with expert salvage kits. so you are out of luck. Great guide too Maxie

emoxcore · Dec 29, 2006, 10:11 PM // 22:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sword

i have 2 minor runes that i would like to have salvaged but im not paying a ton of gold for it .. whats the best attempt to try to salvage this?

Yea just as Covah said..salavges in pre and range from 50-100K+ a salvage..im glad I got that mess out of the way for me. If you know people who have access to a SS kit in pre you might get lucky and knock a few K off, but dont expect alot

Holy Warblade · Dec 30, 2006, 03:22 AM // 03:22

Having access to Post 'contraband' stuff is great and/or having someone who can customize armor runes or weapons is a great asset too.

It certainly becomes a topic of conversation in towns, an item that can be shown off, and of great help when hunting, BUT let's also not forget that everyday people can get through without the need of any of these items. If this is going to be a Pre Searing guide, why not just keep it strictly to the items accessible only in Pre Searing or the bonus items accessible thru the game itself.

What I would like to see people post rather, imho, are the little tidbit secrets, special places and unknowns that are part of Pre Searing, much like Melandru's Garden beside Fort Ranik.

Btw, great beginning guide Maxie!!!

Maxiemonster · Dec 30, 2006, 02:26 PM // 14:26

Hehe, well, I guess this is more a pre-searing guide for the hardcore pre-searing players Warblade. The garden doesn't get you any experience

And no, you can't get your items salvaged for much less the 50K each salvage. Unless you find another way to get post items to pre-searing. If you'd get into the Guild Hall now (or still have a character there) you can probably do more amazing things though, like buying skills or even transfering a level 20 Tyrian character back to pre-searing.

And thanks for the positive feedback!

Katrina Sandstorm · Dec 30, 2006, 05:48 PM // 17:48

Great guide, very handy.

amish lifeguard · Dec 30, 2006, 06:58 PM // 18:58

Charr Dlvling is still possible.

holyjew888 · Dec 30, 2006, 07:12 PM // 19:12

i appreciate the attempt at summing up how to reach legendary survivor, but your better off just forwarding them to my guide via a link

the proffessions section of your guide is GREAT

try adding in as said above, little tidbits that many people would like to see but do not know exist. like the location of the boss in catas or the one east of ascalon(the drake), melendru shrine. all that cool little stuff, ill pm you some thoughts but first id like to see where you decide to take this, ill pm u in a week or 2

God Apprentice · Dec 31, 2006, 12:13 AM // 00:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by holyjew888

i appreciate the attempt at summing up how to reach legendary survivor, but your better off just forwarding them to my guide via a link

the proffessions section of your guide is GREAT

try adding in as said above, little tidbits that many people would like to see but do not know exist. like the location of the boss in catas or the one east of ascalon(the drake), melendru shrine. all that cool little stuff, ill pm you some thoughts but first id like to see where you decide to take this, ill pm u in a week or 2

This guide isn't summing up how to reach legendary defender, it says Detailed Pre Searing Guide, that is just a part of pre searing, which is why Maxie added it

Covah · Dec 31, 2006, 01:01 AM // 01:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxiemonster

Legendary Survivor of Ascalon:

Isn't it Defender? lol

holyjew888 · Jan 01, 2007, 07:52 AM // 07:52

yes, he kinda combined two titles

emoxcore · Jan 01, 2007, 07:55 AM // 07:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by holyjew888

yes, he kinda combined two titles

Is that possible for the two titles? o_O

Ulivious The Reaper · Jan 01, 2007, 09:02 AM // 09:02

your link for healing hands is incorrect, check it again, other than that nice guide :P

River · Jan 02, 2007, 03:06 PM // 15:06

Great guide, Thanks for it

)

Leorin Magnifico · Jan 04, 2007, 10:04 AM // 10:04

As much as I dislike you Maxi, Ranger collector armor has 12armor, not 7 like the rest of them. Which makes them second best armor wise.

Maxiemonster · Jan 05, 2007, 06:01 PM // 18:01

Quote:

Isn't it Defender? lol

Hehe

I mix those up more often. Thanks, changed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ulivious The Reaper

your link for healing hands is incorrect, check it again

Healing Hands in pre... That'd be sweet!

Thanks for the tip, I've changed it now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leorin Magnifico

Ranger collector armor has 12armor, not 7 like the rest of them. Which makes them second best armor wise.

It still only increases by 2 when you go from starter armor to collector's armor, so it's not really worth it compared to the starter armor. But thanks anyway