Curse

Glacial Ray · Feb 17, 2006, 04:27 AM // 04:27

Section I – What this is
This is a guide for an Axe wielding Warrior/Monk to farm the Griffons and Minotaurs outside Augury Rock in Prophets Path. This is by no means the “best” guide because I feel there is no such thing. There can be a guide that is safer than others, or a guide that makes the run quicker than others, etc. Some people feel a successful run is more important that a quick one, others may feel the opposite is true. This is meant to make you both, a successful and efficient solo farmer.

I will try to be long winded and explain as much as I can with the assumption that there will be new players reading this guide.

Section II – Armor, Skills, Items Used, and Attributes

Armor:
I use:

Skills:

Bonetti’s Defense, Cyclone Axe, Balthazar’s Aura, Gladiator’s Defense, Vigorous Spirit, Healing Breeze, Live Vicariously, Mending

Weapon:

You can use an item like Victo’s Axe (which is what I use) or any other green axe, but the Collector’s Max Axes do just fine.

I used this axe for several months. I took the Collector’s +15% while Enchanted and threw on a Sundering mod and a Fortitude Mod. Those are my preferred two mods, another great (and arguably better) mod would be a Furious mod. Use whatever floats your boat though.

Collector’s +15 (while Enchanted) Battle Axe (North of Dunes of Despair)

The Collector for the +15% while enchanted Battle Axe is Brandon Harlin who is found just North of Dunes of Despair in Vulture Drifts by a teleporter. He asks for 5 Encrusted Lodestones which IIRC are dropped by Sand Elementals.

The Collector for the +45/-2 Stance Shield is Lord Dorn Lendrigen who is found North of Thirsty River in The Scar. He asks for 5 Bleached Shells which are dropped by Sand Wurms. (I also sell them like most people for 1k each)

Information on both can be found in this thread.

You could also use Sir Pohl Sanbert’s +15% while in a stance Battle Axe if you prefer. He is found in the Arid Sea which is a zone Southeast of Augury Rock and East of Dunes of Despair . He asks for 5 Dune Burrower Jaws which are dropped by – I’m guessing Dune Burrowers? ;)

Attributes:

These attributes assume you’ve completed both +15 Attribute Points skill quests but this run can be done without them completed also.

-::: Next post contains the rest :::-

Glacial Ray · Feb 17, 2006, 04:28 AM // 04:28

Section III – Where the fun begins!

The Run:

Consistant Basic Notes

Being in a stance is crucial to survive when you have upwards of 14 critters surrounding you. Fighting 3 or less you may do fine, but anything more I’d enter a stance as much as possible, as soon as possible.
Try to keep 5+ energy at all times. Often times you’ll be left with 7 energy. This is to use Cyclone Axe to hit everything around you, thereby gaining enough adrenalin to enter into Bonetti’s Stance (see above line)
Important: Bonetti’s Stance ends whenever you use a skill, which will end your stance, which… will ruin note #1. This is why you want the 5 energy to use Cyclone Axe as soon as possible. Now you can fire off whatever spells you want such as Healing Breeze or Vigorous Spirit since you have Bonetti’s charged and you have extra energy to burn. Once done using spells, re-enter Bonetti’s and get the energy back.
Vigorous Spirit is a nice spell. Keep it up when possible, but it’s not priority. This will give you an additional +8hp per hit with your axe which means +16hp (LV and VS) per hit. Surrounded by Griffons and Minotaurs, this is a significant health gain. Ex. 10 Enemies at +16hp per = 160hp gain.

A quick shot of the life gain from Live Vicariously and Vigorous Spirit.

Meat and Potatoes of the run – What you’re here for
We are leaving from Augury Rock into Prophets Path. Once you zone into Prophets Path, fire up Mending for a constant +3 pips of health regeneration. Head to the right and you’ll notice a Rockshot Devourer. I like to keep my tabs on him while I run past him, so you can hit the tab button to target him if you want to. You’ll soon encounter 2 to 3 Minotaurs coming your way so with the Rockshot targeted you’ll notice when you lose his aggro on the mini-map. Keep running with these 3 Minotaurs up the hill and to the left. You should notice 2 to 4 more coming at you from down the corridor. Stop in the beginning to middle of the corridor and let all 5-7 come at you. At this time you should fire up Live Vicariously and start whacking on the nearest Mino with your axe (gaining +8hp per hit from LV). You can hit Cyclone Axe to gain more adrenalin quicker, however, they use a stance which blocks/evades for a short duration. You may want to use Cyclone Axe after a few seconds of tanking them. You can enter into a stance if possible to keep the heat off of you, or let Bonetti’s charge up from gaining adrenalin from whackin’ the Minos.

Once Bonetti’s charges, enter into the stance. You should be gaining +5 energy per melee hit received from the Minos (Note: you do NOT gain energy from Rockshot’s attacks). Once you hit 27 energy, you can use Balthazar’s Aura (BA for short) for 20 dmg per second for 10 seconds. This will leave you with 2 energy, which is not good. To counter this, once you hit the button for Balthazar’s Aura – WHILE IT IS CASTING – hit the button for Cyclone Axe. You will be gaining energy while Balthazar’s Aura is casting since Bonetti’s Stance doesn’t end until a spell is finished casting, not beginning to cast. The energy being gained while Balth Aura should be enough for Cyclone. This will use Cyclone IMMEDIATELY after BA is finished. This is important because you want Bonetti’s available for use as much as possible. Balth Aura will cause the enemies to scatter and if you wait too long you won’t have enough enemies around you to gain sufficient adrenalin. Once BA is active, I just pick the target with the most life, and chase his ass. Try to stay in one general area so you don’t trigger Rockshot to surface.

Once they come back for more, enter into your stance and Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Use Healing Breeze if things get scary, shuffle in Gladiator’s Defense when it’s up for good damage without the scatter. Gladiator’s Defense is a stance, and stances end if another stance is triggered. Therefore, do not use Bonetti’s Defense until Gladiator’s is completely done to get the maximum damage out of it. While in Gladiator’s Defense you can use any skills you want, it will not end the stance by using a skill (only another stance will end it.) I use Cyclone Axe as soon as possible to get Bonetti’s charged (but don’t use it yet) and then use whatever other skills you want. Vigorous Spirit is a good choice while Glad’s is up.

Oh Noes! Rockshot(s)!
Will Rockshots get you killed time to time? Yes. Does it happen often? No. For Rockshots you’ll stay in stance 100% of the time just like you pretty much should be anyhow. You should pick the Rockshot (or one of the Rockshots if there’s multiple) and whack at him with your axe. One cycle of Bonetti’s Defense is enough to just barely give you enough time to recharge Bonetti’s again. Make sure you keep kicking the Rockshot in the head to keep the adrenalin flowin’. If you have got blind on you from them using Dust Trap, I try to enter into Bonetti’s or if that’s not up use Glad’s. I save Gladiators Defense for when blinded otherwise I just continue to cycle Bonetti’s. When you ARE blinded – stop attacking, enter stance (preferably Gladiators so you can use H. Breeze), and let the blind wear off. When it does wear off, try to get adrenalin to enter Bonetti’s by just straight whackin’ em or popping Cyclone Axe. You should use these similar tactics when soloing a Rockshot or even when surrounded by a big mob. A big mob is a mixed blessing, they’ll ensure you’ll get the adrenaline for Bonetti’s, but if you somehow fail to enter a stance, they will ensure you dirtnap quickly.

If you do die from Rockshots, or just plain ol’ too much stress, just go work it off until you get to 12% Death Penalty or less. When at 12% or less, you will have the 25 energy to use Balthazar’s Aura. (Don’t forget to re-fire up Mending and Live Vicariously since your death drops them).

You can take pretty much as many as you want with this build and tactics. I have a hard time getting anything more than about 14 aggroed on me. If you can get more, feel free. I also kill the Warrior Griffon boss sometimes (Featherfist). He’s not hard, just a little slow to kill since, well… he IS a boss.

Having fun with 14 of my closest of friends ;-)

It’s terribly hard to describe what to do without personally showing you, so if I’m unclear here somewhere please ask me to clarify it for you. It’s pretty ineffable otherwise.

Please do not PM me in game to ask questions, if you have a question please post it here. You just wanna say hi? Feel free to. :)

Take Care,

Glacial Ray

phosho · Feb 17, 2006, 05:01 AM // 05:01

i dont think smiting is needed, you can take off smiting and put them into strength. therefor you will do more damage.and replace mending, breeze for
endure and dolyak. with this your life will never go lower than 75%. you can also replace balts aura with sprint to get away from those rockshots, or gather more griphs

Glacial Ray · Feb 17, 2006, 06:13 AM // 06:13

I've never been a fan of Strength except for running or Hydra farming.

Dolyak is plainly decent here. There's no knockdown, the slow - well, slows things down, and the armor bonus is negligible since my healing more than deals with it.

Endure Pain is just okay too. You can either heal your wounds or make your life greater to deal with it. Tomato Tomatoe.

Sprint? Where does that help in the build at all? Why run from Rockshots. I can take em down in under a minute personally.

I mean - whatever floats your boat, use what you wish, this is just my personal flavor, and it works fine. I get confused when people say they can take on up to 6 or whatnot. Why only 6?

Bane of Austere Necrosis · Feb 17, 2006, 06:17 AM // 06:17

Good guide mate, I'll have to try this ingame with my war/mo after I get some more stuff for him. Hopefully we'll have a better UW run next time too :P

-Bane-

Glacial Ray · Feb 17, 2006, 06:22 AM // 06:22

LoL, for real? What happened there?

I'm not saying my guide is amazing, but a lot of work went into it, and if it helps one person I'll be happy.

Feedback appreciated, FYI none of my responses come with a negative connotation.

SmokeN · Feb 17, 2006, 10:05 AM // 10:05

mm mate are you sure its working with balthazar's aura?
because they have nerfed the AoE Dmg... and they are running like ****** :P

best of ascalon · Feb 17, 2006, 02:24 PM // 14:24

Great guide, Only too much healing. Mending and vig spirit will do.

Glacial Ray · Feb 17, 2006, 03:34 PM // 15:34

Balthazar's Aura is probably not the best choice, but I've yet to find something I like better. I shy away from another adrenal skill because I like to keep that all devoted to Bonetti's. BA still deals pretty good dmg even with them scattering, and if you get in over your head... the scatter can be a moment to get your sh*t together.

There is probably too much healing for a small group, but when I get 8-9+ its nice to have breeze to cover your hide.

Thanks for replies, what would you put instead of BA for strong AoE/PBAoE dmg?

holden · Feb 17, 2006, 04:03 PM // 16:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glacial Ray

Balthazar's Aura is probably not the best choice, but I've yet to find something I like better. I shy away from another adrenal skill because I like to keep that all devoted to Bonetti's. BA still deals pretty good dmg even with them scattering, and if you get in over your head... the scatter can be a moment to get your sh*t together.

There is probably too much healing for a small group, but when I get 8-9+ its nice to have breeze to cover your hide.

Thanks for replies, what would you put instead of BA for strong AoE/PBAoE dmg?

i use

watch yourself(dont really need it)
riposte
deadly riposte(these 3 are your damage)
glad's defense
bonnetti's defense(energy)
sprint(keep away from the crabs)
vigorous spirit
live vicariously

you usually just need live vicariously to keep your health up but if you manage to attract 3 stray minotaurs as your tanking 5 or 6 griffons vigourous will come in handy.

nothing in sword
max out tactics and put the rest in heal and a couple in strength for sprint.

Special K · Feb 17, 2006, 09:51 PM // 21:51

I still prefer SOJ for any build of this nature. How many of the glads warriors here have actually tried SOJ?

Senator Tom · Feb 17, 2006, 11:41 PM // 23:41

you dont need endure or dolyak. this has to be one of the easiest things to do, you dont even need 8 skills

Cyclone Axe, Bonetti's Defense, Gladiators Defense, Vigorous Spirit, Live Vicariously, Mending

cycle through cyclone and bonettis a few times, then once they are all beating on you, hit glads defense and keep doin cyclone. recast vigorous spirit while in gladiators defense, so taht you dotn have to worry about timing it to not screw bonettis.
12+3+1 tactics
8 healing
10+1 axe mastery
vampiric while enchanted axe
45/-2 or just -2 enchanted shield

Mistical miss · Feb 18, 2006, 10:43 AM // 10:43

Wary stance? If you time it right, you may be able to counter all the final thrusts. And it fits as an additional energy and adrenaline supporter. Strength of honor ^_^ to honor the great smiting points :P

These are just Ideas, your build seems to work pretty good already, good job on that

btw the zealous mod turned out to work good too when u get many units around you ^_^

Daft Frik · Feb 18, 2006, 03:06 PM // 15:06

I don't like spreading my attributes too far, for I tend to avoid smiting. This build warks pretty nicely, I can kill the warrior boss in the cave and the desert.

If anyone's bothered wanting a more detailed description of how to do this, I'll make a thread, but I think it's straight forward, just thought I'd add to the conversation.

holden · Feb 18, 2006, 04:13 PM // 16:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daft Frik

I don't like spreading my attributes too far, for I tend to avoid smiting. This build warks pretty nicely, I can kill the warrior boss in the cave and the desert.

If anyone's bothered wanting a more detailed description of how to do this, I'll make a thread, but I think it's straight forward, just thought I'd add to the conversation.

the warrior boss is cake and you dont need mending or doylak sig to do it. that freakin monk boss is what sucks. i'd imagine an axe build would be better for the monk than riposte and glads D.

Glacial Ray · Feb 18, 2006, 04:51 PM // 16:51

Quote:

i use

watch yourself(dont really need it)
riposte
deadly riposte(these 3 are your damage)
glad's defense
bonnetti's defense(energy)
sprint(keep away from the crabs)
vigorous spirit
live vicariously

you usually just need live vicariously to keep your health up but if you manage to attract 3 stray minotaurs as your tanking 5 or 6 griffons vigourous will come in handy.

nothing in sword
max out tactics and put the rest in heal and a couple in strength for sprint.

I've used the Riposte's and "Watch Yourself!" and the like for Hydra's, and I do have a Riposte build for this, but this is for axe. (btw, yes it works fine, just a little slower for me with Ripostes)

Quote:

btw the zealous mod turned out to work good too when u get many units around you ^_^

Yep, it's "required" when you farm Hydra's and the like. It's not necessary here because of Bonetti's but it's still a beautiful thing

Daft Frik · Feb 18, 2006, 05:17 PM // 17:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by holden

the warrior boss is cake and you dont need mending or doylak sig to do it. that freakin monk boss is what sucks. i'd imagine an axe build would be better for the monk than riposte and glads D.

Well, of course you don't need those for it, since they make barely any difference to the build anyway.

Glacial Ray · Feb 18, 2006, 06:10 PM // 18:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Special K

I still prefer SOJ for any build of this nature. How many of the glads warriors here have actually tried SOJ?

Yeah, I've tried SoJ. It's just another variant, and of course you'd have to stay out of stance as much as possible to have the dmg hit. Maybe Bonetti's only to regain energy. "Watch Yourself" and Dolyaks, and healing would be important. I use SoJ, of course, on my 55 Monk, but...

Darkpower Alchemist · Feb 18, 2006, 06:29 PM // 18:29

I have farmed with both W/Mo, R/mo,E/Mo, and Monk primary.Monk primary is better for farming due to the 55 build.However,I also prefer SoJ on all these builds,since large groups are easier to deal with when it is being used.Also,just stating this,but the current build up for discussion is solid for W/Mos. Variations exist,but they are all pretty much using the same core skills.Dolyak sig,Bonetti's,Live vicariously,mending, and vigorous spirit.

Glacial Ray · Feb 18, 2006, 06:51 PM // 18:51

Not Dolyak, Cyclone.

Dolyak slows you and with all the healing, is hardly necessary. Cyclone is great for dealing a little damage, but even more importantly - getting the adrenalin used for Bonetti's.

[Edit: And of course you gain life with LV and VS, pretty significant amounts.]

Dolyak is simply not needed. Or if you do use it, you'll just take healing out. Either way.