Curse

Svovler · Mar 31, 2006, 01:59 PM // 13:59

I have farm with my ranger in long time now, because i dont could farm in Augury rock with my elementalist any more.
So i heard i can farm Hydra, then i need a build?

LightningHell · Mar 31, 2006, 02:08 PM // 14:08

Armor of Earth
Stone Daggers
Kinetic Armor
Crystal Wave
Balanced Stance(You'd have to go Warrior)/Obsidian Flesh (You'd have to go Ranger)
Glyph of Renewal/Aftershock
Whirlwind
Healing Signet/Serpent's Quickness

I'm a bit fuzzy on the brain right now, so sorry if it's not making sense.

Svovler · Mar 31, 2006, 02:56 PM // 14:56

What about a build for: E/Mo or E/Me?

LightningHell · Mar 31, 2006, 03:10 PM // 15:10

E/Mo:

Darnit, why not go Invincimonking. Remember to bring runes.

Mending
Healing Breeze
Protective Spirit
Aftershock
Crystal Wave
Whirlwind
Essence Bond
Balthazar's Spirit

E/Me (untested):

Mantra of Fire
Glyph of Renewal (Optional Elite)
Armor of Earth
Stone Daggers
Kinetic Armor
Crystal Wave
Aura of Restoration
Ether Feast

oljomo · Mar 31, 2006, 04:07 PM // 16:07

Hi

tried and tested (any times over) geo-tank hydra farmer:

stone daggers
aura of restor
armour of earth
kinetic armour
ether renewal
crystal wave/aftershock ( i use crystal wave, but mi not sure which of the two are better)
aftershock/balance stanse(warrior secondary/serpents quickness(ranger secodnary)/mantra of resolve (mesmer secondary)/shielding hands(monk secondary)/putrid explosion(necro secondary)

Meh you can tell i prefer pure ele :O

Best one ive found so far is warrior sec with balanced stance for hydras, but if your gonna go farm somewhere else, some of the others might be better.

oljomo

LightningHell · Apr 01, 2006, 08:04 AM // 08:04

If you go somewhere else, a Serpent's Quickness-Obsidian Flesh/Mist Form farmer may be better.

Tv-set · Apr 01, 2006, 02:47 PM // 14:47

I have had success with this build

Earth magic 16
Energy storage 15

Stone Daggers
Aftershock
Crystal Wave
Armor of Earth
Kinetic Armor
Earth Attunement
Aura of Restoration
Ether Renewal

Pretty basic build but effective.
Galigords Stone Staff is ideal weapon for this build or you can use some other weapon to get 20% longer enchantments.
Knockdowns of Meteor is bit annoying but not really dangerous. Just time your spells correctly and you should be fine.
Keep your enchantments up and fire renewal + spam daggers whenever you need energy. One trick which fastens runs is using renewal/daggers to kill last hydra of group to charge energy and immediatly aggro next group (remember to keep kinetic up casting ex. aura or aftershock).
Enjoy!

oljomo · Apr 01, 2006, 04:58 PM // 16:58

Hi

i enjoy teh certainty of not having to worry about knockdowns with balanced stance much more than the extra damage by having both crystal wave and aftershock.

Also not that galigords stone staff is a good weapon for most geo-tank builds, but a better combo is a -2 enchanted shield and a flame spitter with enchanting mod.

admittedly this will lose you more of the fast cast/recharge bonuses, but the damage you no longer take more than makes up for that, plus seeing gazillions of 0s pop up above your head is always fun. (take a geotanke witha -2 while enchanted shield into a load of avicara scouts and see the whole screen explode with 0s :O)

oljomo

Antheus · Apr 01, 2006, 05:18 PM // 17:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tv-set

I have had success with this build

Earth magic 16
Energy storage 15

Stone Daggers
Aftershock
Crystal Wave
Armor of Earth
Kinetic Armor
Earth Attunement
Aura of Restoration
Ether Renewal

Galigords Stone Staff is ideal weapon for this build or you can use some other weapon to get 20% longer enchantments.
Enjoy!

For hydras I prefer balthazar's spirit over earth attunement, I've noticed it recharges energy more efficiently than what earth attunement saves.
Galigord's is a must for +20 enchant.

I'd run this exact build against slow hitters (ettins or sand wurms for example).

Francis Crawford · Apr 01, 2006, 09:34 PM // 21:34

TV-set -- is it really best to run a sup rune of Energy Storage with Ether Renewal? I play the same build without a second sup rune and my (higher than yours) level of health and also my energy bar often get fully refilled when Ether Renewal goes off.

Rhunex · Apr 01, 2006, 10:55 PM // 22:55

There's a lovely E/Mo build in this sites archive stuffs. Essentially, its like this.
Stone Daggers
Obsidian Flame
Crystal Wave
Armor of Earth
Kinetic Armor
Aura of Restoration
Earth Attunement
Balthazars Spirit

Cast balthazar's spirit right when you enter the map, its an enchantment that stays with you at all times, taking away one regen, so getting it up asap means you can go right into battle with full energy.

Right before battle, cast Earth Attunement, armor of earth, kinetic armor, and aura of restoration(make sure the attunement is up before the armor buffs, gives you more energy).

In order to make this build work, you NEED stone daggers. Kinetic armor gives you some 70+ armor for 8 seconds, and the time is reset if you cast a spell. Stone daggers allows you to keep it up.

Now, with all your buffs up(watch them, Armor of Earth dies after 30 seconds, relatively quickly, and you don't want to go too long without the attunement) you shouldn't take much damage at all. And each time you're attacked, you get energy(via balthazars).

I've tested this build, and it does work, and if you read the article of the original creator, it says it works better with more hydra. And it does. I fought 9 hydra at the same time, because thats as much as i could aggro and still keep kinetic up. Killing the first hydras was easy, I hardly lost any health(it was noticeable, but I healed so quickly that it really didn't cause any problem).

Keeping up your enchantments, you also need to deal out damage. While you CAN kill 9 hydra with stone daggers...I would not advise such a plan of action. Rather, use crystal wave as soon as it recharges. It'll attack all hydras, and by the time you've killed 8 hydras, the last is on its last legs(metaphorically).

And while Obsidian Flame is a good spell, doing 100 or so dmg and ignoring armor, it does cause exhaustion, and I wouldn't recommend spamming it too much. I found that healthy substitutes for this skill include:
Earthquake-also causes exhaustion, but does AoE dmg
Aftershock-you won't get the second set of damage, but it does a healthy load as it is, and it's to all the hydras that are attacking you melee style, just like crystal wave.

Just so you know. I killed the 9 hydras with level 12 earth magic, level 12 energy storage. I'm waiting to use a sup earth rune on my first piece of geomancer armor(im getting all 4 15k sets) and so I had lvl 12 earth magic(no earth helm, saving money for 15k armor)

However, attribute wise, I would think that having level 16 earth(sup rune + helm) and level 15 energy storage(sup rune) would make this build immensly more easy to work with. Just so you know, at level 15, Aura of Restoration gives exactly %400 energy cost of your spells to your hp. if you use stone daggers, you're healed 20 hp.

As for weapons, same thing. I didn't have earthy wands or artifacts, so I used my fire things. As you might guess, my fiery weapons didn't help earth spells one bit, but it worked for me all the same. In short, though, it doesn't matter what you have for a weapon/artifact, it will work.

csskiller · Apr 02, 2006, 12:35 AM // 00:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antheus

For hydras I prefer balthazar's spirit over earth attunement, I've noticed it recharges energy more efficiently than what earth attunement saves.
Galigord's is a must for +20 enchant.

I'd run this exact build against slow hitters (ettins or sand wurms for example).

cool, this build works awesome. I was just wondering is there anywhere else an enchanted geo tank can go with this?

oljomo · Apr 02, 2006, 01:12 AM // 01:12

Hi

with that standard earth tank build you can go anywhere where there is no unavoidable enchant removal/armour ignoring damage.

By unavoidable, i mean anything bu twell of the profane, as if you run away from any dead bodies you should be fine, i managed to solo all the scarabs surrounding the queen with it (used mantra of resolve as my last skill), but couldnt do enough dmaage to the queen

. (althoguh i did get 3 golds in that one run....)

Also against hydras i would say balanced stance is a must, as it lets you take on more hydras at once, (try taking on about 15 without it, and timing your spells so they arent disrupted), and also allow a bit more of lay back and farm mentality (i.e. its not so mentally demanding).

Obvious examples of other places to take this build are:
with mantra of resolve:
scarabs outside augury9they wont use vampiric ouch uneless theyre on low health, the key here is taking them out 1 by 1 so its not really worth it timewise, but is fun for a challge)
trolls in the troll cave: (can normally take 10-11 of them at once, but that was before mantra of resolve was nerfed, havent tried it since then)
with any 8th skill:
minotuars outside elona or the minotaurs outsire heroes audience(very easy, but not very many decent drops)
with balanced stance:
sand elementals outside heroes audience
sand wurms whereever they ar (normally switch out restoration for obsidian flame for this, and rely on renewal for healing)

Now, to the pros and cons of ether renewal vs balthazars spirit (and ill add stormchaser on as well, as that can be VERY useful):
ether renewal:
can have any secondary prof
heals as well (and a very major heal it is as well)
allows you to fight small groups, as you dont have to take damage for it to work
is elite
balthazars spirit:
doesnt need to be recasted so is easy to use
are limited to monk secondary
must be taking lots of damage for it to work-you cant take small groups very effectively
storm chaser
needs elemntal damage, making it only useful for specific farming places.
adds 5 energy per hit, which will fill your energy bar in a crazily small amount of time (if facing lots of opponants)
is less effective against small groups (but not ineffective due to the large amount per hit)

And another quick comparison: galigords staff vs ffs of enchanting+-2 while enchanted +30 hp sheild
staff:
cheap (relatively)
20% fast-casting with earth spells
20% fast recharge, (only with earth spells)
ffs+shield
+~5 armour
10% fast recharge on ALL spells (so can benefit ether renewal, which would be very useful)
-2 damage per hit (note this really does add up, allowing you to rely on heling much less, or even not have to heal)
both
20% longer enchantments
+30 hp

so if you can get one, the axe+shield combo greatly overpowers teh staff in terms of tanking ability, for a slight decrease in damage dealing ability, and more chance of having your spells interrupted (but not majorly), however getting a shield like that will be rpicey, so maybe switching out the +30 health mod for a less popular +1 to earth magice might be wise.

oljomo

Tv-set · Apr 02, 2006, 04:57 AM // 04:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francis Crawford

TV-set -- is it really best to run a sup rune of Energy Storage with Ether Renewal? I play the same build without a second sup rune and my (higher than yours) level of health and also my energy bar often get fully refilled when Ether Renewal goes off.

I suppose it really doesn´t matter. I just like to have energy 90+

Althought i have found energy being more demanding in these kind of runs so that extra energy let you keep going little bit longer. Health is not so important.

Francis Crawford · Apr 02, 2006, 08:46 AM // 08:46

Thorgall's shield is pretty cheap and should fit the bill.

Francis Crawford · Apr 02, 2006, 08:47 AM // 08:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tv-set

I suppose it really doesn´t matter. I just like to have energy 90+

Althought i have found energy being more demanding in these kind of runs so that extra energy let you keep going little bit longer. Health is not so important.

I generally find it more annoying to die than to run low on energy.

csskiller · Apr 02, 2006, 02:53 PM // 14:53

Well, in the case of farming hydras DP isn't really that detrimental to you. Basically each one you kill gets rid of about 2% dp, so kill away

Shred Dread · Apr 02, 2006, 11:18 PM // 23:18

Quote:

I generally find it more annoying to die than to run low on energy.

If you run low on energy while fighting hydras then you pretty much are dead.

Shred Dread · Apr 02, 2006, 11:20 PM // 23:20

I'm seeing a whole bunch of geomancer builds here, but nothing for a pyromancer. Is that because there really is no good hydra-farming build for pyromancers, or is it because no one has contributed any? If anyone knows any good builds for a pyromancer, please contribute.

LightningHell · Apr 02, 2006, 11:53 PM // 23:53

Well, Hydras are pretty resistant to Fire.

There should be Water builds out there, actually.