Curse

kippyieh · Sep 24, 2006, 02:09 PM // 14:09

Kippyieh’s Guide to Solo Mursaat Farming

As far as I know, this is the only solo mursaat farm build, please correct me if I am wrong. From a background perspective, I have been trying to do this off and on since before the Protective Bond nerf. My last attempt started about 3 weeks ago as an attempt at dual runs, but the Mursaat agro patterns proved too ‘non-traditional’ for lack of a better term.

Many thanks to:

Miteethor ~ For the first thread I saw on the 55 UW monk concept. As fate would have it, my monk was ready to ascend the day the post was first listed, and I followed the conversation. Cheap Superior Monk runes did not last long.

For all those that helped with the dual farming builds from friends to the random Ele and Nec waiting for a group for THK.

Hoorah for the Mesmer! Awesome class – and as far as I know, the only prof that can solo all the Mursaat. Given the new scythe and compatibility with Illusionary Weapon, the Mes may just become the new 55 monk...

This build is based on the 55 IW UW build and the initial part of the guide will probably be familiar to most solo farmers; I have included it for the folks just starting out. Basically Fast Casting and the relatively fast recharge on most of the skills helps mitigate interrupts. Energy regen is facilitated by maintaining only two enchants. This build actually makes the Mursaat farm, something I thought was completely impossible after every new build attempt, relatively easy.

Ok.

Attributes and Profession

Skills

Protective Spirit
Enchantment Spell. For 5...19 seconds, target ally cannot lose more than 10% max Health due to damage from a single attack or Spell.

Spirit Bond
Enchantment Spell. For 8 seconds, whenever target ally takes more than 60 damage from a single attack or Spell, that ally is healed for 40...88 Health.

Sympathetic Visage (Illusion Magic)
Enchantment Spell. For 8...18 seconds, whenever target ally is hit by a melee attack, all nearby foes lose all adrenaline and 3 energy.

Illusionary Weapon (Illusion Magic)
lite Enchantment Spell. For 30 seconds, you deal no damage in melee, but whenever you attack in melee, target foe takes 8...34 damage.

Ancestor’s Visage (Illusion Magic)
Enchantment Spell. For 8...18 seconds, whenever target ally is hit by a melee attack, all adjacent foes lose all Adrenaline and 3 Energy.

Conjure Nightmare (Illusion Magic)
Hex Spell. For 2...12 seconds, target foe suffers -8 Health degeneration.

Balthazar’s Spirit
Enchantment Spell. While you maintain this enchantment, target ally gains adrenaline and energy after taking damage. (The amount of adrenaline gained increases depending on your rank in Smiting Prayers.)

Essence Bond
Enchantment Spell. While you maintain this "Enchantment", whenever target ally takes physical or elemental damage, you gain 1 Energy.

A note on the skills. One of the Visages could be left out in favor of something else, e.g. Power Return. However, it is rare that a group of Mursaat will not include several mesmers with awesome interrupt skills. Interrupting may be minimized by good play technique, but invariably, a cast of Visage will periodically be interrupted. The second Visage facilitates overall faster monk killing by eliminating the interrupted down time and maintaining a constant Visage if required. It also has the additional benefit of stacking on top of the first cast, completely shutting down most casters and leaving open the opportunity for shutting down the monk in a single Jade Armor Mursaat group.

Weapon Slots

Since I don’t have the Nightfall pre-order and the included scythe, here is how I run my weapon slots, I would highly recommend the bases as a minimum, (I haven’t bothered changing the hilt on the sword and the string on the bow) but there is some room for creativity here.:

Armor

I have tested various combinations of runes and armor (nothing scientific), and found that 4 sets of Superior runes, resulting in a max health of 180, generally works best. This leaves enough health for any degen, even Life Transfer, if there are enough Jade Armors around (4, but if complimented by a few Jade Bows, 3 will suffice). The best armor of course would be the starter set (Armor level of 5), but that is going to be impossible for most existing mesmers. Another option would be to forego chest armor, but at a substantial decrease in energy. I would also recommend one extra set of leggings with a minor rune to offset dp. You will most likely only accumulate more than 15% dp if you are just learning the farm, otherwise dp has never been an issue. Here is what I use (from what I can determine, some wanding will instigate Spirit Bond healing):

Technique

I have used this build in both the Ring of Fire mission and Ice Floe. I have yet to try the Tower in the Ring of Fire mission but it is fairly easy to completely clear the entire intial group of Mursaat with a little bit of practice. One attempt was made at soloing Abaddon, but not enough damage was being done to the first tower. Swapping out Visage here may be an option. Ice Floe can be cleared of Mursaat, even bosses, if not mixed with the Ice Imps. The play technique outlined below is for Ice Floe, which requires slightly more tactic.

Mursaat are atypical in there agro response. The smaller agro groups generally come in two different varieties, either: 1 monk, 2 mesmers, and 1 Jade Armor, or 1 monk, 2 mesmers and 2 Jade Armors. The group may be widely spread over the map, indicating a controlled agro technique. An agro group of four may be defeated, but it will take awhile due to the one source of melee damage and resulting monk’s energy degen from Visage. Typically, it is best to avoid the groups of four for initial agro.

A third agro group generally consists of 7: 1 monk, 3 mesmers, and 3 Jade Armors. These present no problem except for the increased chance of interruption.

Preparation
After casting Balt’s Spirit and Essence Bond, locate the desired agro group. There will generally be an isolated agro group or two just outside of Thunderhead Keep, to the south or to the west. If there is no discernable group of 5 or 7, then try the alternative route (see the picture below).

Initiating Agro
Before agroing, cast Protective Spirit and Spirit Bond. As a general rule, agro should be limited to a single Mursaat. The Jades should come out immediately. It seems that the casters will generally agro and wand with the exception of one. I think there is a correlation with the caster agro’d and the response, i.e., agro’ing the monk first will cause him to wand, but I have not been able to determine for certain. Regardless, I generally pull the Jades back and bring the caster along. There is always a monk, if the monk has not responded to the agro, he will come out to heal once the damage to his agro group starts.

Keep Protective Spirit and Spirit Bond up, with the ¼ second cast time and Fast Casting, interruption on these casts is generally not a problem. If they do happen to get interrupted, the relatively fast recharge generally allows for a recovery cast.

Damage
Cast either of the Visages. Depending upon style of play, Essence Bond may be cast first as an interruption check. An alternative is to move outside of the mesmers casting range and cast Visage before they come back in. After one of the visage’s is up, move to the monk. Due to the possibility of another interruption, it is generally best to start damage on the monk with Conjure Nightmare. If it does get interrupted, then there is a relatively fast recharge. Cast Illusionary Weapon next and attack the monk, keeping Visage up. Attack the mesmers next, again keeping Visage up.

After the casters are all dead, allow the Jade Armors to follow you and move to the next agro group. If there is no discernable single monk group, use the long bow to pull one Mursaat, defining the agro group. Again, the monk will generally not separate till damage is being dealt.
Continue to kill casters off of agro groups, leaving the Jade Armors. As you move around the map, some of the Jades will abandon agro and return to the spawning location. When this happens I will generally mark the ones that abandon, re-agro and kill before moving on. But if you would rather, Jade armors can be dealt with one on one without any difficulty.

More often than not, in the larger spawns 2 monk groups will agro. If one monk is completely shut down and Conjure Nightmare and Illusionary Weapon are constantly up, the damage is generally too much for one monk to handle and they may be dealt with separately. The alternative is to maneuver around until they are grouped close enough for Visage to shut both down. Stacking Visage ensures that the monks will not be able to heal at all.

Cleaning Up

All the Jade Armors may be taken out after the first boss, in the location indicated below. You can continue on thru Ice Flow, avoiding the imps and following the same basic procedures after you encounter the next group of Mursaat. There is a large agro group close to Grotto that sometimes proves a little difficult.

Special Scenarios

Bosses
Bosses present no difficulty, use the same kill order.

Necromancers
Necromancers are not a problem if agro’d with 4 Jades or 3 Jades and at least 2 Jade Bows. Target them after the monks.

Loot

I generally expert salvage garments and anything that may result in steel, keeping the rare materials in storage. If I need room, I will normal salvage the wood items. Dropped items of potential value include, Mursatt Hornbows and Mursaat Hammers, and runes. All colored items get sold to the merchant, at least until that 15^50 req. 8 Mursaat bow and hammer drop =P Chests seem to have a better chance of opening as gold, but I got tired of chests everywhere else a long time ago and probably cannot make a good comparison. The Southern Shiver Peak run generally nets ~5-6k

The same basic procedure may be used in Ring of Fire, but it is generally a lot easier thanks to all the Jade Armors. To speed things up and prevent the big Mursaat Group from splitting up, wait till the Big Group leaves after Brechnar Ironhammer, then agro all the Armors and Bows, running to the point indicated in the second screenshot to block the Big Group from passing. The monks should be in that group. Start with them and work your way thru the rest of the casters.

Comments, suggestions and corrections all appreciated.

~peace

White_Chaos · Sep 24, 2006, 02:47 PM // 14:47

hmm Nice Build you got there
Do you think a Mo/Me could use it aswell?

Legendary Shiz · Sep 24, 2006, 02:52 PM // 14:52

You could it would just take longer.

You'd only be able to acquire 12 illusion instead of 16 like in this build. I'm sure it's possible though.

kippyieh · Sep 24, 2006, 02:56 PM // 14:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by White_Chaos

hmm Nice Build you got there
Do you think a Mo/Me could use it aswell?

Probably. After the monks are shut down nothing else heals. Two monk agros would be impossible I think.

Slimster · Sep 24, 2006, 09:41 PM // 21:41

Wow nice, it works really good and its easy to use, i've been waiting for a good mursaat solo to come out.

DeathandtheHealing · Sep 24, 2006, 11:17 PM // 23:17

awesome!
nice job

ibex333 · Sep 24, 2006, 11:18 PM // 23:18

This can be done with a spirit bonder monk, and is easy as cake. Use IW+CN
You dont need anti-interrupt at all. Just dance around a bit before you aggro everyone and cast Visages in advance. You dont even need IW that much... CN owns them in 2 shots.
If anyone wants proof I can post a screenie. God.. I cant believe I didnt think of this earlier. lol.

The monks and mesmers should be avoided at all costs though.
I honestly cant understand how the creator of the thread deal with mesmers. They e-drain you like crazy. The only way to deal with them I can imagine is to pull jades and armors to them. this will allow you to get energy, but it requires some fancy dancing.

osk · Sep 25, 2006, 02:03 AM // 02:03

Hah ! I was actually trying this build day before you posted Mo/Me tho.
gav up as i find it slow....now i knw CN can help speed up the farm.. gd gd! ty!

/thumbs up!

banditjin · Sep 25, 2006, 02:09 AM // 02:09

whats CN ?

kratimas · Sep 25, 2006, 02:49 AM // 02:49

@banditjin - I think it is Conjure Nightmare.

Conjure Nightmare (Illusion Magic)
Hex Spell. For 2...12 seconds, target foe suffers -8 Health degeneration.

Krat

*edit*
Forgot to say GJ, I will have to give this one a try. I too have always wanted to solo the Mursaat.

Thanks for sharing!

Karil The Tainted O · Sep 25, 2006, 03:06 AM // 03:06

Do you think a 55 sheild of judgment could do it?

Nero · Sep 25, 2006, 03:09 AM // 03:09

this is very very nice man, i will def try this when i make my mesmer

Harold · Sep 25, 2006, 03:12 AM // 03:12

Cool, I always knew there was a reason why I saved my mesmer's presearing armor

Can't wait to try this.

ibex333 · Sep 25, 2006, 04:38 AM // 04:38

Hey guys.. here's another build for ya...

Spirit bonder with retribution and SOJ works perfectly!! And they all drop much faster. Just make sure you got as much life as possible.

moenbase · Sep 25, 2006, 11:59 AM // 11:59

Yikes. This is a nice one!
Though I wonder a bit how you deal with the Spectral Agony. Even at full infused they still do -3 health degen.
And with 5 superior runes that'll make your health around 105 or so (?)
Basicly they always make sure that your 'agonized' which is a constant -3.
It'll probably outhealed if there a couple of Jade's around. But when you meet the Necromancers with Life transfer then the degen would be around -7 or so.
Which I think is quite a lot (?)

And indeed the Mesmers trickery like Energy Surge and all to interupt your casting could be a real pain.

But I gotta try this one. I'm not familiar with the bonding thing at all, might as well try it. ^_^

kippyieh · Sep 25, 2006, 12:13 PM // 12:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibex333

Hey guys.. here's another build for ya...

Spirit bonder with retribution and SOJ works perfectly!! And they all drop much faster. Just make sure you got as much life as possible.

Interesting - I haven't tried this, but can you take the monks and necros also? You have no direct targeting damage skills and my exepreinec has shown that some of the casters will refuse to wand.

Quote:

Yikes. This is a nice one!
Though I wonder a bit how you deal with the Spectral Agony. Even at full infused they still do -3 health degen.
And with 5 superior runes that'll make your health around 105 or so (?)
Basicly they always make sure that your 'agonized' which is a constant -3.
It'll probably outhealed if there a couple of Jade's around. But when you meet the Necromancers with Life transfer then the degen would be around -7 or so.
Which I think is quite a lot (?)

And indeed the Mesmers trickery like Energy Surge and all to interupt your casting could be a real pain.

But I gotta try this one. I'm not familiar with the bonding thing at all, might as well try it. ^_^

Thanks for the comments.

Actually health is at 180 with 4 sup. Degen is not a problem if you follow the outlined technique. Spectral does not last long and has never been an issue after killing the last Jade. HF

ibex333 · Sep 25, 2006, 12:41 PM // 12:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by kippyieh

Interesting - I haven't tried this, but can you take the monks and necros also? You have no direct targeting damage skills and my exepreinec has shown that some of the casters will refuse to wand.

Yes that's the only problem with retribution. You cant kill casters. But you drop 5-6 armors/bows in about 10 seconds which leaves you free to start over instead of IW/CNing every mursaat there.

Off course if someone doesnt like this whole concept, IW with CN works great and will allow the monk to kill every single mursaat there. (I speak from experience)
The only exception is when you face 2 monks.

Sentential · Sep 25, 2006, 12:58 PM // 12:58

Interesting, this looks like a varient of the shiroken build used at unwalking waters. I might have to give this a shot as im looking for mursaat skinned items as well.

Desires · Sep 25, 2006, 02:02 PM // 14:02

I'm going to go try this with the sycth should be fun.

manager · Sep 25, 2006, 02:06 PM // 14:06

Very impressive, though, i think, a small correction is needed: lambda the great was the first doing mursaat solo with his warrior on Ice Caves of Sorrow.
Still, very impressive.