Curse

Moa Bird Cultist · Mar 14, 2006, 05:17 PM // 17:17

Ok, here's my E/W farming build I've been using for several months now to farm desert griffons. With the recent addition of the scarabs in Prophets Path, I had to find a new place to farm, just like anyone else. So, Outside Dunes of Despair, there are over 25 Desert Griffons waiting to be farmed for cash, but my old build couldnt get past the forgotten in the way of them. Suffice to say, I worked around it and now I'm back to saving up for some 'uber l33tz' armour in factions.

Anyway, the build I use goes something like this:

Earth Magic: 12+3+1
Energy Storage: 3+1
Tactics: 12

Equipment:
Stones Eye of Superior Earth Magic
General Elementalist robes, as AL is identical across all of them in Griffon farming, one with a Minor Energy Storage rune attached and one with a major/sup vigor.

Weapon: Furious Long Sword of Shelter
Damage: 6-9, +5 AL while casting, Improves Casting Speed (5%)
Double adrenaline on hit: Chance 10%
Armour+7 vs Physical Attacks

Focus: Galigord's Stone Scroll
Energy +12, Health+30, Earth magic +1 (20%)

Health: 476~485
Energy: 54

Skills:
1. Deadly Riposte
2. Riposte
3. Gladiators Defence [E]
4. Magnetic Aura
5. Armour of Earth
6. Crystal Wave
7. Healing Signet
8. Sprint

Basically, buff the armour with AoE for 129 armour, then throw on Gladiators Defence. Spike with Crystal wave then start riposting, when glads runs out, switch to Magnetic Aura for 21 seconds. Once AoE starts to blink, recast and ready Glads for when Mag Aura runs out. If your health drops by 100 or so, use healing signet, but only if you at the very least have a riposte or deadly riposte to hand. Never let AoE run out and spike with Crystal Wave every time as soon as it recharges. With the right timing, you can remain impregnable for up to 50 seconds, which should be enough time to dispose of a group of 3 very easily. Once you get the hang of timing your heal/parry combos, you can leave gaps between stances (I know Mag Aura's an enchantment, but for sake of arguement, I'll call it a stance,) and aggro more than 1 group of Griffons at a time. I can pull off 6 on 1 normally and with a bit of luck, I can go 9 on 1 and make it out with both my head and the loot.

One thing I have found is that Desert Griffons and Minotaurs are about the only thing I can solo efficiently with this build - other mobs are either too many for this to work, (Mountain Trolls,) or they can circumvent the high armour of the build, (Blessed Griffon's Holy Strike.)

Ok, well that leaves one thing that I didnt explain: Why Sprint?

It's quite simple, Sprint is my way of getting past the forgotten who are between Dunes of Despair and the teleporter which leads to the combat zone. The 8 seconds at 0 strength are more than enough usually. If I can remember, I'll post some links to map pics and proof pics after I do some runs later. Ok, peace, y'all.

Francis Crawford · Mar 15, 2006, 04:18 AM // 04:18

Where do you get that sword?

remmeh · Mar 15, 2006, 05:00 AM // 05:00

it's the presearing crystalline look-alike from the Moa Bird quest. i have one with an enchanting mod

Moa Bird Cultist · Mar 16, 2006, 03:50 PM // 15:50

As Remmeh said, it's the reward for Prize Moa Bird. It's often overlooked, but the inherrent stats are very useful in some situations - magic based tanks like myself being the most obvious example

Francis Crawford · Mar 17, 2006, 05:52 AM // 05:52

Ahh. Boring quest. I guess I should do it with my last pre-searing character anyway. Thanks ...

tONYY · Mar 18, 2006, 01:36 AM // 01:36

Do i get the quest from the guy that stands next to Devona in Ashford? (Pitney)

Moa Bird Cultist · Mar 21, 2006, 06:10 PM // 18:10

Yes, thats the one, you have to do the worm problem quest first to activate prize moa bird though. I've been considering the most effective upgrades for the swords too - for pure farming, +7 Shelter is easily the best pommel, but the hilt is a much closer race. Now I dont know the specific weaknesses/resistance of desert griffons, so elemental hilts are somewhat useless without further knowledge of the anatomy of the enemy. That leaves Sundering, which is easily the worst mod for this build, as the sword is not there to deal direct damage and there are no 'attack skills' that can take advantage of this. Zealous was one I considered, but with normal attack speed, it again, makes no difference to the builds effectiveness. Then theres Vampiric. This one, I considered quite a good mod for this type of farming, due to the extra damage it deals. However, 3 per hit is no great amount and the tradeoff is that it's a very bad thing when casting AoE, Mag Aura, CW and healing signet as you arent hitting the target to counter the degen 1 for 1 This could potentially still be implemented with a second sword to switch to while casting is not needed though.

That brought me back to Furious. Now, in most circles, Furious is considered to be a junk mod with little practical value. In this case, however it is easily the most beneficial, as it provides 1 extra adrenaline per 10 strikes on average, allowing Riposte to be spammed more often.