Curse

Talarian · Mar 04, 2008, 11:12 PM // 23:12

Hello everyone, let me start by saying that I am well aware that I didn't make this build, nor am I trying to take any credit for it. Rather, my aim is to facilitate its use by highlighting common pitfalls and sharing a few observations that may make your farming experience more profitable.

In addition, to anyone who questions the validity of such a guide in this stage of the game, I urge you to do the run as often as I and not be whispered at least once by someone asking for help.

So, before the tips begin, let me just provide skills that we will be using so as not to confuse anyone, and so everyone knows what I am talking about when I reference a particular skill. Also, when I need to reference more than one skill, I'll use numbers, with 1 being Sandstorm and 8 being Stoneflesh.

[skill]Sandstorm[/skill][skill]Dragon's Stomp[/skill][skill]Aftershock[/skill][skill]Ancestor's Visage[/skill][skill]Storm Djinn's Haste[/skill][skill]Mantra Of Earth[/skill][skill]Stone Striker[/skill][skill]Stoneflesh Aura[/skill]

As long as you have a Superior Earth Magic rune and a +20% Enchant weapon, the rest of your gear really doesn't matter (although I assume you have max armour).

Now the basics are out the way, I shall present my tips to you by way of answers to what I assume could potentially be frequently asked questions.

Q: Ok, I'm in UW, what now?
A: I'm not going to walk you step by step through the farm. Other people have done that already. Search for "Terra Tank" and the original build should come up (or at least some discussion on it).

Q: Argh! The Graspings keep interrupting me! I die as soon as Stoneflesh runs out
A: This is a common complaint, I imagine because the guide on PvX hasn't been updated to take into account all the nerfs that have affected the skills over the years. My method is thus:

1. Stand at the bottom of one flight of stairs, check for Dying Nightmares, check you're not targeting the Lost Soul (happens more than you can imagine), cast 6, 7, 8, then 5, run up and aggro a group of Graspings, TURN AROUND and run back to the middle.

2. Hopefully the Aataxes will have lost aggro and returned to their start point. If not, keep running till they do.

3. Now the tricky part. You have to watch very carefully for the flashes that occur when the Grasping uses its interrupt. You should be aware of how many are in the group (if you aren't, there are 4 in the left-most group, and 3 in the other two groups). HOWEVER, it is often the case that one of them used their interrupt when chasing you, and you didn't see it. If this is the case, and all but one of them has used their interrupt when there is approx. 25% of the recharge time on Stoneflesh remaining, cast Ancestor's Visage anyway. If it gets interrupted it isn't the end of the world.

4. Assuming you got Ancestor's Visage up (go to point 5 if you didn't), IMMEDIATELY cast Sandstorm, then recast Stoneflesh. My method here is to count four hits of Sandstorm before I cast Dragon's Stomp. This generally ensures that they all die when hit by Aftershock. If any life, wand them to death.

5. Ok, so you didn't get Visage up. Cast Stoneflesh as soon as possible, as that is all that is keeping you alive at this point. If that gets interrupted too, there isn't a lot you can do. If you get it up, keep hitting Visage so it gets cast as soon as it recharges, then proceed as above.

6. Final point is what to do if for some reason Sandstorm gets interrupted. It happens, and it isn't fatal. You should have Visage up which means they won't be interrupting you for a while, which means you are free to combo 2 & 3 whilst maintaining Stoneflesh and Visage as much as possible. It takes three combos to floor them.

Q: I aggroed the Graspings, and an Aataxe ran after me, so I kept running, and it kept following, until I was pinned in the corner and got wtfpwned

A: Sadly, there is no consistent reason why this happens from my experience. Just curse that Aataxe and try again.

Q: When I was running from A to B I ran past a couple of Aataxes and before I knew it, they had killed me. I wasn't even standing anywhere near them!

A: It's called rubberbanding, or a lag frag, and again, there is not definitive reason for it happening, except you ran really close between two Aataxes or an Aataxe and the wall. Even with 60ms it happens to me, your only recourse is to swear loudly and try again.

Q: Ok, I made it to the Ice Wastes, and I saw some Smites fighting each other/some Coldfires. WTF?

A: Simple answer is that all the mobs in this area are very aggressive, and often if they spawn too close to each other will fight. I know its a shame because that's potentially your ecto being crushed, but there isn't much you can do about it.

Q: I cleared the right-hand side, but there's about 20 Smites at the top of the little hill, what do I do about that?

A: Easiest way would be to kill them all. The build doesn't care how many you aggro at once, you'll be safe as long as you maintain 6, 7, and 8. However, the way I see it, the smaller the group the more drops ergo the higher the chance of one of those shiny pink blobs falling into your hands. So, this is how you deal with it:

Cast Storm Djinn's. Aggro the nearest Smite. With any luck, only one group (3-5 Smites) will be aggroed. More likely, all 20 will be. In this case, TURN ROUND, and run until you lose aggro. As soon as this happens, STOP RUNNING. The Smites should reaggro, and hopefully only one group will do so. If not, try again, eventually you will have separated one group from the mob, and will be able to maximise profit potential. Repeat for however many groups there are.

Q: I aggroed a Coldfire! It hurt!

A: I'd like to think that you knew to not just stand there taking it, but if that much was beyond you, do the following: cast Storm Djinn's and kite. Kite like your life depends on it. Run back to the start of the Ice Wastes if necessary. Note that Kiting is MUCH more important than maintaining Storm Djinn's, as if they can't hit you it doesn't matter how fast you are running. Once they have lost aggro, wait for them to go back to where they came from, and resume farming. Just don't stand in a Maelstrom, they don't like that.

Q: I didn't get any ecto! What a jip!

A: Welcome to the reality of modern day ecto farming. You'll be lucky to average 2 every 3 runs, more like 2 every 4 or 5. Still, even that pays for itself with plenty on top, so stop moaning

That's all for now folks, thanks for reading, hopefully some of your questions will have been answered and you can successfully ecto farm. If you are still having trouble, and you see me in Temple Of Ages, feel free to ask for a run through [IGN: Anna Talaria] (Seriously though, don't go whispering me all day every day, I won't reply and you will be put on my ignore list. ONLY IF YOU SEE ME).

If you have any further questions, answers to other frequently asked ones, or perhaps improvements to my tips, please post below.

Siirius Black · Mar 04, 2008, 11:46 PM // 23:46

Intersting ...
Thanks for the tips

Hyprodimus Prime · Mar 05, 2008, 04:21 AM // 04:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Talarian

4. Assuming you got Ancestor's Visage up (go to point 5 if you didn't), IMMEDIATELY cast Sandstorm, then recast Stoneflesh. My method here is to count four hits of Sandstorm before I cast Dragon's Stomp. This generally ensures that they all die when hit by Aftershock. If any life, wand them to death.

I think you should wait a few seconds after using SV/AV so their energy drains. They use Distracting blow which runs off energy not adrenaline. 4 hit of SS eh? I should try that.

The PvX page is pretty well kept and goes into a lot of detail. If you dont mind I'd like to add a link on it to here. It can clean up some stuff.

Talarian · Mar 05, 2008, 11:50 AM // 11:50

Here is the link to the PvX page

In respect to waiting for a few seconds after casting Visage, I find that by the time they have used Distracting Blow the first time, there is just enough time for me to cast Sandstorm before Stoneflesh runs out. Given the recharge on DB, it is unlikely that any will be able to interrupt you casting SS, by which time they will be drained anyway. If you let SF run out though, you run the risk of them having somehow kept a little bit of energy (unlikely, but possible) which would mean they could interrupt SF when you get round to recasting it, and that would most probably be fatal. If it works for you that's cool, but I find my way pretty much flawless

BuD · Mar 05, 2008, 02:55 PM // 14:55

They way I handle the grasps is, aggro, wait till they all use their Distracting Blow, cast AV, wait a few seconds then cast SandStorm IMMEDIATELY followed by Stoneflesh Aura, wait for 4 hits of damage from SS, then DragonStomp (right at the 4th -51 from SS) immediatey followed by AfterShock.

Grasps dead, no scatter, no interrupts...rinse repeat.

Koning · Mar 05, 2008, 03:44 PM // 15:44

I don't see the point in this thread while the original thread is still around (and even bumped every now and than meaning it's still active). It contains all the information needed, so this is rather useless imo.

Original

Next time use search button

Talarian · Mar 05, 2008, 04:32 PM // 16:32

Just read through the other thread, doesn't contain ALL the info above, and is rather a lot to read to find the answers to questions. I was well aware of the other thread's existence (where do you think I got the build from?) but felt I could help the people who constantly ask for my help by saying how to deal with the situations that pretty much every person has trouble with.

So this is rather useful imo

Koning · Mar 05, 2008, 04:39 PM // 16:39

Ye, I've just updated that thread a bit. Frontpage was rather messy and indeed many questions are asked and answerred trough the whole thread (and reading trough 500 posts isn't always fun ofcourse).

Kenny Mack · Mar 05, 2008, 04:46 PM // 16:46

u do NOT need a visage in ur bar. its pointless, remove it and replace it with glyph of concentration

before u aggro grasps, cast stone striker, mantra, storm djinn, stoneflesh then glyph of concentration.

pull grasps to middle, they cant interrupt u coz of glyph, cast sandstorm then earthquake (or dragons stomp) (glyph ends) and aftershock, they tend to run and ur able to cast stoneflesh again (sometimes one doesnt move but he wont interrupt), and then kill any stragglers.

rinse and repeat

run on, kill smites, no problem

easier way to do it and no tedious counting the number of grasps and checking for their interupts

Kenny

Koning · Mar 05, 2008, 05:05 PM // 17:05

Well, if you think counting is hard go with glyph of concentration ye. Besides, your character also has a very clear animation when he gets interupted. AV has a greater advantage at the smites. The glyph would just feel like a wasted slot there.

Kenny Mack · Mar 05, 2008, 07:55 PM // 19:55

glyph of concentration totally lowers the room for error at grasps, and it makes things alot simpler and quicker.

as for grasps, av is totally unecessary. wot does it do? stops them from casting reversal of fortune coz of no energy? woopdeedoo, its not hard to bypass and takes no longer than if u were using av

Abedeus · Mar 05, 2008, 08:03 PM // 20:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenny Mack

glyph of concentration totally lowers the room for error at grasps, and it makes things alot simpler and quicker.

as for grasps, av is totally unecessary. wot does it do? stops them from casting reversal of fortune coz of no energy? woopdeedoo, its not hard to bypass and takes no longer than if u were using av

Divine Intervention.

12chars

Yoshikuni Mahsu · Mar 05, 2008, 09:34 PM // 21:34

Shoulve just posted it in the original thread.

And theres no need for e-peen flexing, koning. Oh wait, this is farming forums. Nvm.

Norse · Mar 05, 2008, 10:27 PM // 22:27

Just a little note on avoiding the aatxes.
I think if you use a sprint skill, like storm djinns haste there, you are too fast for them and they sort of give up. Its like a little exploit.
But the graspings are fast and should follow you anyway.

So what you do is activate all your armours, then storm djinns, sprint up and get agro and run straight back.

This used to be the case anyway, could anyone clear this up?

Abedeus · Mar 06, 2008, 06:45 AM // 06:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Norse

Just a little note on avoiding the aatxes.
I think if you use a sprint skill, like storm djinns haste there, you are too fast for them and they sort of give up. Its like a little exploit.
But the graspings are fast and should follow you anyway.

So what you do is activate all your armours, then storm djinns, sprint up and get agro and run straight back.

This used to be the case anyway, could anyone clear this up?

WOW NO WAI. I think people knew it like... 2 years ago. And everyone mentions it in every solo smite build. Except for Monk or Ranger ones, where we can solo Aatxes as well.

Resident · Mar 06, 2008, 08:32 AM // 08:32

I still think that the glyph of concentration build is far more better than this. For 15 mins, you can cast two spells without feeling dazed or being interrupted. What else do you need against grasps?

Donut Tzar's awesome build even for smite farm is the best.
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...23&postcount=1
Meteor shower, bed of coals and flamedjinn ownz all the smites and the grasps.

Koning · Mar 06, 2008, 09:18 AM // 09:18

MS has big ass recharge. If bad spawns you loose alot of time. In other words, in the long run you are slower. It can't do anything better than the original build, it only can do worser. Fail less please.

Kenny Mack · Mar 06, 2008, 09:28 AM // 09:28

lol koning, im beginning to question whether you have ever farmed at all

there is nothing wrong with ms, bed of coals and fdhaste. it stops things getting boring and the recharge is not "big ass", its only 60 secs, between the time of u casting it, killing the foes, and waiting for the pull on the next group its basically recharged.

Kenny

Resident · Mar 06, 2008, 09:28 AM // 09:28

Glyph of swiftness mate. Btw, it recharged almost everytime I aggro'd the smites. No failures, you just have to be smart and not wasting your time

This build is for doing the chaos planes as well. It's a kick ass build no matter what you say. I use the flamedjinn, glyph of concentration version of the original build, thats far more safer.

masta_yoda · Mar 06, 2008, 10:37 AM // 10:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenny Mack

lol koning, im beginning to question whether you have ever farmed at all

there is nothing wrong with ms, bed of coals and fdhaste. it stops things getting boring and the recharge is not "big ass", its only 60 secs, between the time of u casting it, killing the foes, and waiting for the pull on the next group its basically recharged.

Kenny

this koning guy ebays dont worry about him.....

agree with ur post