Curse

Trader of Secrets · May 05, 2008, 05:50 AM // 05:50

Ok I finally tried out my buildin making. So far Ive cleared all the smites out but havent made it chaos plains cuz a blackness group stays right along the path. How can I solve this issue? Do I just need to rush through the mountain to plains? Am I able to walk there with OF and SF up?

My skills used were GoS, OF, SA, Font, Phoenix, FDH, BS, Aura of Restoration (AR).

From my experience down in smites area, all I kept up was SA, BS, and AR to survive, No OF needed. Killed with Phoenix and FDH only. My question is will Phoenix and FDH be efficient for mindblades as well?

If Phoenix and FDH are enough, what should font be replaced with?

Bug John · May 05, 2008, 08:33 AM // 08:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trader of Secrets

Ok I finally tried out my buildin making. So far Ive cleared all the smites out but havent made it chaos plains cuz a blackness group stays right along the path. How can I solve this issue? Do I just need to rush through the mountain to plains? Am I able to walk there with OF and SF up?

You just need to be faster, don't use OF in the mountains, just FDH (with GoS) and SA when you're in a safe spot. Watch the video on the first page, you'll see the charged blacknesses coming to block the door just after the runner has reached the plains.

The droprate is better with sliver armor, but ectos aren't loot-scaled, so it shouldn't affect their droprate, am I right ?

If you start with heroes to kill graspings, maybe you could use a vaettir build, or anything similar, that doesn't need fire magic to deal damage, and kills enemies one by one.

Washi · May 05, 2008, 10:24 AM // 10:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trader of Secrets

From my experience down in smites area, all I kept up was SA, BS, and AR to survive, No OF needed. Killed with Phoenix and FDH only. My question is will Phoenix and FDH be efficient for mindblades as well?

If Phoenix and FDH are enough, what should font be replaced with?

Flame Djinn's Haste does 120 dmg, 10sec recharge
Inferno does 135 dmg, 10sec recharge
Lava font does 250 dmg, 4sec recharge

all cost 10e, take your pick.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bug John

The droprate is better with sliver armor, but ectos aren't loot-scaled, so it shouldn't affect their droprate, am I right ?

No. Loot scaling is changing amount of drops according to party size. Ectos are not scaled that is why you get more while soloing.

Getting poor drops while killing stuff at once is something else. If you kill all the mindblades in one moment you will get little to nothing no matter what.

okashii · May 05, 2008, 11:37 AM // 11:37

^ but does that mean that I have a highier chance of getting more ectos while killing mindblades one by one?

Im still testing that tactic but need to do more runs to reach any conclusion

Bug John · May 05, 2008, 11:50 AM // 11:50

I don't know if the "killing one by one to get better drops" effect works on items that are not loot scaled, as killing slowly seems to compensate the loot scaling effect

so I'm asking people who use sliver if they get better drops

Carboplatin · May 05, 2008, 02:54 PM // 14:54

the drop rate doesn't change much.

i've been using lava font and they all die at once, i stiil get 5+ ectos every run.

Mr.Kotte · May 05, 2008, 03:01 PM // 15:01

If you kill Mindblades with sliver armor = more white drops, same amout of ectos.
If you kill Mindblades with Lava Font = less white drops, same amount of ectos.
Try it and see for yourself.

XDeadboltX · May 05, 2008, 07:10 PM // 19:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Kotte

If you kill Mindblades with sliver armor = more white drops, same amout of ectos.
If you kill Mindblades with Lava Font = less white drops, same amount of ectos.
Try it and see for yourself.

I tried this too and will have to agree. Guess ill just take sliver out of my build then.

One run I got 3 ectos, 1 run I got 9 ectos, both with sliver armor so its down to luck

Kaleban · May 05, 2008, 07:47 PM // 19:47

Loot scaling does not affect rare materials and a bunch of other things like tomes. It only affects for the most part, merch fodder that bots used to make gold for sale.

So ecto drop rates should stay the same regardless of how quickly or in what amount you kill an appropriate target. The only reason people get jittery around the notion of drop rate nerfs is because of the huge variable chance involved.

Smites are what, 2% and Aatxes 4%? And since the percentage is not cumulative, you could easily have a chance to get nothing or all ectos in one run, statistically though you're looking at a low average based on the number of enemies killed. But from a single run perspective, the variation is crazy wild!

Mr.Kotte · May 06, 2008, 01:06 PM // 13:06

I gave this a run just now. I used:
[E/Me;OgNDksy8MADpfObYkM+qaD5B]
Using bday cupcakes as speedboost. Worked perfectly.
A small note on the side: I killed all the graspings with 12 in fire magic - I'm assuming you can do it with 15 fire magic too. Just not sure how the graspings will scatter.
Edit: 16 EM and 15 FM works great to kill the graspings.

snodaard · May 06, 2008, 03:38 PM // 15:38

i can't even get out of the first chamber, i get killed every single round by a nightmare. what to do??

Kyuuzo · May 06, 2008, 05:03 PM // 17:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by snodaard

i can't even get out of the first chamber, i get killed every single round by a nightmare. what to do??

Use a cupcake to run around and nightmares aren't going to be a problem anymore. I pulled my hair out because of them (I had the same problem as you) but got 25 cupcakes for 6k and i've made 21 ectos in 4 runs ^^.

I also use heroes to help kill grasps asap and changed my skills a bit (took out FDH and GoC and put in Healing Breeze (for when both OF and SA run out ~ at the same time and i get some dmg) and mending touch (to get rid of cripple and make sure i get to the plains before the Charge Blacknesses do)

Trader of Secrets · May 07, 2008, 12:06 AM // 00:06

I finally did it cleared plains! 7 ectos, 1 black dye, 2 UW scrolls

Skills I used are GoS, OF, SA, Phoenix, FDH, Storm Djinns Haste (SDH), BS, Aura of Restoration (AR).

Used heroes to clear the chamber. No cupcakes cuz my fat title character ate it all. SDH is really help when a nightmare pops up and u are running from cows or squids. Very helpful while running through mountain to plains cuz of the fast recharge. Only problem I encountered is a badass spawn where the wurms completely block the entrace.

Yobs · May 07, 2008, 02:36 AM // 02:36

OK I have done this run a bit lately... now have more than enough ecto for FoW armor

A summary of the posts and my experience seems to be:
Mark of Rodgort and lava font make a mess of the mindblades and terrorwebs (thanks to R Langdon). The fastest 2 skills with good energy management for doing the chaos plains only.
Sliver armor and Ward of stability makes the charged blackness easy if you use the terrorwebs as batteries (keep them alive), this makes the spawning pools a piece of cake.
I use a cupcake and the above skills to do plains, pools and the skellies these guys hate giving me ecto. I only run them if I have 20 min left to play.

Don't use Mark of Rodgort on the smites !! they have smite hex which will kill you. I skip the smites

.

FJH, SJH and mending touch make getting through the mountains easier although not absolutely necessary. Mark of Rodgort and Font is very fast and you can just wand any BDR with MoR on it or one font and rodgort and wanding kills 3 mindblades if energy is low. Also MoR and 2x font and a bit of wanding to take the remaining 10 hitpoints is more than enough to kill mindblades at 14 fire. Also more drops as they die 1 at a time. This set up makes energy management and timing in the plains very easy. I also use sliver on the 2nd and 3rd groups (6 and 10 respectively) although I hardly ever kill single groups but rather at least 2 at a time. Dragging BDRs and blades over the chaos plains is fun

.

For the charged blackness they can be killed without the ward (if you need a speed boost), just takes good timing and knowledge of their movements. Basically get your OBF cast then aggro the group with MoR (as that is the only time they are bunched) and immediately cast stoneflesh and WAIT. When one starts to come close hit sliver and it will die, let the others come in and cast font (to suck out shock and if it gets through kill them) then hit SF and glyph OBF as needed. Ward makes it alot safer though as sometimes 1 takes too long to come into tough range in a group of 3. Blackness also drop ecto

.

I use Searing flames and all ranged attacks on the hero's for the grasps as I found with the PbAOE fire skills some folks are using the idiot hero's would sometimes follow a retreating grasp or run up to use skills on the grasps and help get aggro from an aataxe. Also kills those aataxe that freeze or get stuck on the npc's (not uncommon) as the hero's don't move.

I have never used a self heal and never needed it even with both superior runes and just blessed insignia's. Just don't aggro blackness until your health has naturally regened up to max. You should take zero damage in chaos plains.

All the variants will work and its fun, thanks to all the folks who have posted their builds and modifications.

Yobs

Kyuuzo · May 07, 2008, 02:59 PM // 14:59

is Sliver necessary to kill blacknesses and clear the pools? (sorry for not testing it myself, been screwing up in plains lately

) My only dmg skills are MoR and Lava Font + a fiery spear

Mr.Kotte · May 07, 2008, 04:03 PM // 16:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyuuzo

is Sliver necessary to kill blacknesses and clear the pools? (sorry for not testing it myself, been screwing up in plains lately

) My only dmg skills are MoR and Lava Font + a fiery spear

You'll need Ward of Stability or other anti-KD to kill them with ease. Otherwise just go ahead and try.

snodaard · May 07, 2008, 04:34 PM // 16:34

i soloed all the mindlbades and didn't even get one ecto..
is this normal??

Mr.Kotte · May 07, 2008, 04:36 PM // 16:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by snodaard

i soloed all the mindlbades and didn't even get one ecto..
is this normal??

Nope
12345678

Abonai Laguna · May 07, 2008, 05:27 PM // 17:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by snodaard

i soloed all the mindlbades and didn't even get one ecto..
is this normal??

no it isnt, but the ''6-11 ectos each run'' what someone said isnt true imo got 5 max..

Mr.Kotte · May 07, 2008, 05:45 PM // 17:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abonai Laguna

no it isnt, but the ''6-11 ectos each run'' what someone said isnt true imo got 5 max..

I've gotten less then 6 for about 2 times out of 50. And 11 beeing the most. So 6-11 is true.