Curse

Terakhan · Sep 24, 2006, 12:14 PM // 12:14

As you could guess, my new favorite skill for farming is Sliver Armor.
Using the following build:

16 earth magic
12 energy storage

stone daggers
magnetic aura
sliver armor
ether renewal
kinetic armor
armor of earth
earth attunement
aura of restoration

Galigord's stone staff or equivalent and any armor you want

I have tested and succeeded on the following monsters/areas:
Witman's Folly Grawl (all but the necro boss)
Arborstone Explorable area Wardens
Droknar's cave Mountain Trolls
Black Curtain Forest Minotaurs
Elona Reach Minotaurs
Haiju Lagoon (all of it, even Captured Son and Tin Dao Kaineng)

So, lets see just how much more this one skill/build can devastate, or find better builds to further exploit it.

Amok Affinity · Sep 24, 2006, 06:06 PM // 18:06

sliver is kinda ofn.

sliver-kinetic-e.renewal-daggers-attune-aor.

... leavin' you with room to pick between more enchants, some damage, a.echo,a ward, and so on. fairly versatile but meh it's nothing spectacular imo. very touchy build.

White_Chaos · Sep 24, 2006, 08:35 PM // 20:35

Hail Sliver Armor!!

Vladmir Mironov · Sep 24, 2006, 11:39 PM // 23:39

Everyone's used the spell.
This build isn't anything new.
Looks like the general Mountain Troll farmer with Sliver Armor thrown in there.

Nechtan Thaumaturge · Sep 25, 2006, 04:19 AM // 04:19

Being mostly concerned with Elementalist farming builds, I'm a big fan of Sliver Armor as well. Every half-decent farming build I've come up with since Factions came out, except one, has had Sliver Armor in it. Some of the things I like about it:

It protects you against both ranged and melee attacks.
It works whether or not you get hit or take damage, so it stacks nicely with blocking/evading stances and blindness.
It's a non-elite skill, which allows you to use things like Ether Renewal, Shield of Judgment, and Shadow Form alongside it.
It's in the Earth Magic line, which conveniently has some of the best skills for solo farming available to an Elementalist (Kinetic Armor, Armor of Earth, etc.).
It concentrates damage onto a single foe making it possible to achieve some very fast kills.

Of course, on the other hand:

The recharge is a bit on the long side; you would have to use something like Glyph of Renewal + Serpent's Quickness + a weapon of Enchanting to keep it up for longer than about 13 seconds.
It's almost impossible to predict or control which creature will actually get damaged. Also, the selection can change when new creatures come into nearby range.
It becomes significantly less powerful against groups of one or two creatures.

Incidentally, one of the tactics I like to use (against melee mobs at least) is to throw down a couple of PBAoE spells before activating Sliver Armor. That way, with the creatures already around half health, you'll get more mileage out of Sliver Armor as opposed to doing it the other way around.

legacyofkain85 · Sep 26, 2006, 11:01 AM // 11:01

i did used silver armor with mi 55 monk did farm ghial until it droped the staff its awesome ,couldnt farm orosen though.

Terakhan · Sep 27, 2006, 11:25 PM // 23:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vladmir Mironov

Everyone's used the spell.
This build isn't anything new.
Looks like the general Mountain Troll farmer with Sliver Armor thrown in there.

Perhaps, but last time I checked, that generic troll farming build you are talking about couldn't finish the cave. This build can take ALL the trolls, both bosses, and any tengu in the way to even get to the cave.

It also takes down the bosses in Witman's Folly, with the exception of Karobo Dimdim. But he can be dropped if you are brave and swap Obsidian Flame in for Magnetic Aura.

One thing I have noticed, on that last note, is that Sliver Armor does seem drawn to targetting bosses. I have rushed a boss to with warriors right behind me within its range, and it usually shifts to the boss. Then all their little archer and warrior buddies drive them into the ground.

byteme! · Sep 27, 2006, 11:37 PM // 23:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terakhan

Perhaps, but last time I checked, that generic troll farming build you are talking about couldn't finish the cave. This build can take ALL the trolls, both bosses, and any tengu in the way to even get to the cave.

I'll repeat with someone else said. Besides the fact that this is an Ele primary build, there are already builds that exist that can clear everything you've stated. So what else is new?

Terakhan · Oct 16, 2006, 10:15 PM // 22:15

So no one is allowed to post a build if it handles an area that another build can? Better tell those folks posting all the ritualist farming builds then. God forbid we should have builds for all classes to be able to farm the same things.

Back to business, here is the list for the build thus far:
Chkkr Thousand Tail
Arrahhsh Mountainclub
Chehbaba Roottripper
Tomton Spiriteater
Sakalo Yawpyawl
Ipillo Wupwup
Alana Pekpek
Salani Pippip

Mountain Trolls (out of Droknar's Forge)
Grawl (Witman's Folly and Icebreaker farming)
Forest Minotaurs (south of Temple of Ages)
Desert Minotaurs (Crystal Desert)
Gypsie Ettins (very time consuming due to their small groups)
Wardens (Echovald Forest, easiest in Arborstone Explorable due to numbers)

Subbing Mantra of Resolve in the place of Magnetic Aura:
Lian, Dragon Petal

And finally, while using Sliver Armor but not the build above:
Ghial (thanks to legacyofkain85)

Tainek · Oct 16, 2006, 11:26 PM // 23:26

Sliver is nice, but the lowered damage vs 1-2 foes means its a compliment to anouther damage dealing skill

strcpy · Oct 17, 2006, 06:33 AM // 06:33

Thanks. While I can not be sure what your motivation to post is, I found it to be useful. Even given the hate involved a few being informed may be what you look for. I've used Silver Armor in the past, in fact it's been a feature of a few of my builds, yet I have never even bothered with some of the areas you list. Maybe I suck - at the very least I read other builds and learn from them.

Ele farming has always seemed very fast but very centralized. That is, the build either dominates or is unworkable. This gives me at least one more place for crop rotation and a decent amount of gold. I wouldn't worry about the amount of complaints - do what you enjoy and post it if you wish. I bet most don't really want their farming builds released than anything.

Terakhan · Oct 25, 2006, 11:49 PM // 23:49

Motivation? For me, its the challenge. Whether finding a build that can handle a diverse range of farming without the use of a secondary, finding ways to farm new things, or finding new tricks to farm with, its the challenge of it. If there is no challenge, it becomes boring, and many people have resorted to bots out of that boredom. When Nightfall comes out and I get a feel for those skills, I may post an update to this, seeing if the build works better that way.

Terakhan · Dec 08, 2006, 09:31 AM // 09:31

Time for an update:

16 earth magic
12 energy storage

Stone Daggers
Eruption
Sliver Armor
Stoneflesh Aura
Armor of Earth
Elemental Attunement
Earth Attunement
Aura of Restoration

With the new chapter and new skills, I bring new victims for the pure elementalist goodness that geomancy can bring:

Lunto Sharpfoot
Chidehkir, Light of The Blind
Chor The Bladed
The bugs just inside Arkjok Ward, from Yohlon Haven

The bosses are tricky, since it seems that Sliver Armor has a tendency to pull toward bosses, and you need to remove the Veldt Beetle Queens to be successful at killing the bosses. Also be sure to avoid the wandering plant patrols. Those killed me twice while I was working out the 'bugs' of farming Lunto.

I haven't gotten myself deep enough into Elona to find if there are other such victims waiting to be slaughtered.

SalamandraTheNinja · Dec 09, 2006, 02:38 AM // 02:38

Infact, as long as you don't encounter a stance removing monster, this seems like a superior energy management to Elemental/Earth attunement:

Stone Striker
Mantra of Earth

It's just... a lot of energy. Identical in energy gain to both Balthazar's Spirit and Essence Bond, except without the upkeep enchantments, and the need for a monk secondary.

-LiamB · Dec 09, 2006, 04:28 PM // 16:28

When I tried this in the Troll Cave the Trolls ran away from me when they got to around 60% HP. Don't tell me this is counted as an AoE spell too o_O

Francis Crawford · Dec 10, 2006, 01:29 AM // 01:29

Is there anyway to predict or affect the targeting of Sliver Armor when there are no bosses involved?

This would matter a lot in fighting groups that include healers (e.g., Jade Armor).

Curar Partida · Dec 10, 2006, 01:31 AM // 01:31

No Sliver Armor targets a random enemy. Though if u target a boss it will hit him nearly everytime, though i have found it to switch enemies in midst battle. And yes its an aoe. E/A frming ftw.

Francis Crawford · Dec 10, 2006, 03:32 AM // 03:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Curar Partida

No Sliver Armor targets a random enemy. Though if u target a boss it will hit him nearly everytime,

Interesting contradiction.

But not inconsistent with my own experience.

Actually, in one respect it is. Often the enemy who dies first when I'm using it is neither a boss nor somebody I'm targeting with Stone Daggers. So I imagine it's common that one enemy takes most of the slivers ...

Terakhan · Dec 10, 2006, 07:39 AM // 07:39

My observation on it, while farming Lunto outside of Nundu Bay:
If Lunto is within range, Sliver Armor switches to him. If he isn't it does seem to be random. As far as targeting, I always keep the Veldt Beetle Queens targeted, so its not based on your targetting.

When I head north to Chor, the same thing happens, I focus on the VBQ and Chor pulls all the sliver armor damage.

If you want a real challenge, hit the Skale bosses along the coast in Marga Coast. It is a lot harder with the degen getting tossed on you (darn armor-ignoring conditions), but they are still beatable. Meaning one build, one map, five bosses soloed by it.

Guildmaster Cain · Dec 10, 2006, 11:13 AM // 11:13

I think its a mix between highest lvl and closest enemy, making melee and bosses the most common target. I usually run up and meleeattack bosses to get close enough to them and then trigger Sliver Armor.