Curse

Francis Crawford · Apr 08, 2006, 12:41 PM // 12:41

I basically used one of two builds when queen farming (Kephket, southwest of Augury Rock) -- Double Glyph, and the one described in this thread. Double Glyph worked pretty well, but it depends on a lot of slow-casting spells that are too often interrupted by the many Distracting Shot rangers.

So I decided to see if an enchantment-oriented build could work, despite all the necros skittering around casting Well of the Profane. I discovered it could, provided I adhered to

Rule 1: When something dies near you, run away immediately!

I.e., get out of range of the Well before it finishes being cast.

By the way, the other main rule of survival is

Rule 2: Don't run into traps. Watch where the warrior set off a trap, and follow him through the gap he created. Or if you're doing mop-up farming after the queen is dead, don't pick up your loot until the traps time out.

So I went with a fairly standard Dual Attunement build, in which:

5 point spells (i.e., Flare) have a net cost of 2 energy
10 point spells (i.e., Fireball, Immolate) have a net cost of 2 energy
15 point spells (i.e., Incendiary Bonds, Flameburst) have a net cost of 4 energy
25 point spells (i.e., Mark of Rodgort, Meteor Shower, Rodgort's Invocation) have a net cost of 6 energy

The exact build I wound up favoring was:

Elemental Attunement (E)
Fire Attunement
Aura of Restoration
Mark of Rodgort
Meteor Shower
Flameburst
Flare
Rez (or Mend Ailment if I just went with my wife and/or henchies)

With only two attributes, both were maxed out, with a sup fire rune and minor energy storage.

It surprised me that I didn't wind up using the 10 point spells, which I would normally emphasize in a dual attunement build for energy efficiency, but that's how it played out.

Weapons were my preferred wand/artifact set (Collectors/Kindlerock) and my preferred collectors staff (Defensive of Defense is what I have, although in that area Hale of Fortitude would be better, since degen is a much bigger issue than damage).

Strategy was obvious if you consider who the enemies are:

Lots of necros (squishy)
Lots of rangers (high AL against elemental damage)
Some meleers (high AL in general)
One monk boss

1. Kill necros before rangers. They're more dangerous, and a lot easier to hurt with fire.

2. Use AOE when the opportunity is there. Still the best overall damage, no matter what the AL.

3. Otherwise, Mark of Rodgort something and Flare/wand it to death. Hence the name "Roasted Ranger."

Yes, Mark of Rodgort doesn't last long on Kephket. But either you get some good burning in, or else she removes it fast with CoP, and that's an effective expenditure of 10 energy on her part vs. only 6 on yours.

And once Kephket is dead, the remaining rangers in their nests die fast, one at a time. Often I'd let the other players map out and just get extra loot. Yeah, it's not that much over 100 gold/minute, but for a nuker that's a good farming haul.