Curse

azuresun · Oct 01, 2007, 05:51 PM // 17:51

Does anyone have any good builds for farming Asterius the Mighty in Eye of the North? He's a dervish boss, located just outside Olafstead, that drops a very nice scythe.

By himself he is not overly difficult to farm, but his accompanying berserking bison make it very difficult as they use intimidating aura to strip enchantments and all of them use zealous renewal, which they can use to spike you with AoE damage.

I have been using a tactics based warrior build as follows:

Gladiator's Defense [E]
Bonetti's Defense
Riposte
Deadly Riposte
Final Thrust
Endure Pain
Dolyak Signet
Healing Signet

Maybe I'm just not good at this, but I still have to take a full party of henchmen/heros and clear the surrounding area and the rest of his group first, flag them away, and then kill him, which is very time consuming as he tends to chase down my henchmen.

Anyone have any better ideas?

SeraCombi · Oct 01, 2007, 05:58 PM // 17:58

holy hand grenade might be needed here.

count unto 3, no more, no less.

then roll said hand grenade underneath thy foe.

moko · Oct 01, 2007, 05:58 PM // 17:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by intarwebs

E/A Sliver armor? too bad I only took my rit through EotN.

i believe their aura can hit right through any enchant, including shadow form.

intarwebs · Oct 01, 2007, 06:01 PM // 18:01

E/A Sliver armor? too bad I only took my rit through EotN.

random.name · Oct 01, 2007, 06:33 PM // 18:33

Try doing it with a Grenth's Balance warrior build with heroes and hench. Once adds have been killed flag them away and proceed to kill the boss in peace.

azuresun · Oct 03, 2007, 02:17 PM // 14:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mokone

i believe their aura can hit right through any enchant, including shadow form.

Thanks for the replies!

E/A Shadow Form/Sliver Armor sounds the most feasible, but this is my question...

Shadow Form reads: "all hostile Spells that target you fail and all attacks against you miss"

Intimidating Aura reads: "For 60 seconds, if you strike a foe who has less Health than you, that foe loses 1 Enchantment and Intimidating Aura ends"

So even though Shadow Form is an enchantment, they can't actually hit you for the duration of Shadow Form, because they would miss, therefore Intimidating Aura would not trigger on a normal attack, skill, or spell.

However, what happens when you are struck by the AoE damage from Zealous Renewal while they are enchanted with Intimidating Aura? My guess is, if you have less health, Shadow Form is stripped.

I don't have an Ele that far in yet or I would test it myself. Anyone know how this works?

SotiCoto · Oct 03, 2007, 02:27 PM // 14:27

AoE spell damage centered on self will do damage THROUGH Shadow Form.... but doesn't count as a "strike", so it shouldn't remove anything.

As a simple rule of thumb though.... remember the other condition of Intimidating Aura. If you have more health than they do.... consistantly.... then you won't have your enchants stripped. Strength-based health-boosts much?
Tried VwKing him?

To be honest, I've never tried soloing any of these guys per-say.... but quite often I will charge ahead with my Sin and engage them in combat (all Beserking Bisons and even this boss) while leaving the herohench lagging far behind.... and I've never yet seen them strip my enchants (Critical Defenses, Way of Perfection and Critical Agility)...

Senrath · Oct 04, 2007, 11:07 AM // 11:07

Hmm, I'll have to give that a try with my ele when I get home from school. I'll post to let you all know if it works or not.

azuresun · Oct 04, 2007, 01:25 PM // 13:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by SotiCoto

Strength-based health-boosts much?
Tried VwKing him?

I'm Sorry, but I don't know what VwKing is?

Utaku · Oct 04, 2007, 02:21 PM // 14:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by azuresun

I'm Sorry, but I don't know what VwKing is?

[skill]Vengeful Was Khanhei[/skill]

Senrath · Oct 04, 2007, 08:20 PM // 20:20

Alright, I've tried it with the E/A Boss Farmer build. My conclusion: it doesn't work. Sadly, there are monks around him and they out heal any damage I could put forth. I even tried some tweaks on the build, with no luck. It may be possible if you can aggro a bunch of other groups that don't have monks with them, but it probably wouldn't be very reliable.

Marverick · Oct 05, 2007, 01:40 AM // 01:40

I'd just take some heroes and clear his mob, then set up a spirit farm and pull him into it.

[skill]Shadowsong[/skill][skill]Wanderlust[/skill][skill]Anguish[/skill][skill]Pain[/skill][skill]Bloodsong[/skill][skill]Painful Bond[/skill] should make short work of him alone.

Or the standard Ranger farm works. [skill]Apply Poison[/skill][skill]Burning Arrow[/skill][skill]Pin Down[/skill][skill]Natural Stride[/skill]

azuresun · Oct 05, 2007, 12:36 PM // 12:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Senrath

Alright, I've tried it with the E/A Boss Farmer build. My conclusion: it doesn't work. Sadly, there are monks around him and they out heal any damage I could put forth. I even tried some tweaks on the build, with no luck. It may be possible if you can aggro a bunch of other groups that don't have monks with them, but it probably wouldn't be very reliable.

Typically, he will spawn between Olafstead and the Jotun cave, and then he will begin patroling with four berserking bison in a wide circular pattern around the rez shrine. There are no Berserking Aurochs (monks) in his group, but there are some other mobs that contain them nearby. You have to make sure that when you encounter him you don't aggro any of the Berserking Aurochs. I don't think any of the Monks spawn near the rez shrine, they are only present when you go down the hill into where the snow has melted away and everything is greener.

Did they strip any of your enchantments though?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SotiCoto

Tried VwKing him?

Also I don't think Vengeful Was Khanhei will be able to out heal the damage these guys can inflict. They have a adrenal monster skill called Berserk, which causes all of their attacks to deal double damage and inflict a random condition for 10 seconds. However,Sympathetic/Ancestor Visage, if they dont strip it, would nullify adrenal gain, that might be worth a try...

Senrath · Oct 05, 2007, 08:21 PM // 20:21

Nope, my enchants stayed strong. But no matter how many times I tried it, an Auroch managed to get aggroed one way or another.

sevendash · Oct 05, 2007, 11:14 PM // 23:14

VwK him along with Pain Inverter.

Aceman The Merchant · Oct 06, 2007, 02:12 AM // 02:12

It IS possible to Sliver Armor him I have done it before in the past...the trick is to agro more than one group with him the monks can't heal more than Sliver deals out. I have probably farmed 20-30 of em in the first weeks of GWEN coming out it's reliable..just like any other farm once you do it a few times it gets easy.

azuresun · Oct 09, 2007, 12:29 PM // 12:29

So this weekend I got my E/A to Olafstead to try this out. Shadow Form/Sliver Armor does work. You need to aggro at least three other mobs in addition to Asterius' group without aggroing an Auroch to take him down. I was able to kill him, on average, twice in 15 minutes.

I just leave Olafstead and Dark Escape my way to Inga Caveborn's rez shrine. He usually wanders near it if you wait for a minute. There usually aren't any monks there.

Beware of pop up Vaettir spawns, as Mist Vaettirs use Illusionary Weaponry and Shadow Vaettirs use Unholy Feast, both of which will damage you through Shadow Form.

My build was:
Earth Magic: 16 (sup+head)
Shadow Arts: 12
Energy Storage: 6 (sup)

Radiant Armor and an Insightful Earth Staff of Enchanting

Skills:
Glyph of Elemental Power
Dark Escape
Shadow Form
Death's Charge
Sliver Armor
Obsidian Flame
Crystal Wave
Tenai's Crystals

I cast them in that order, and then recast Obsidian Flame a second time to finish him off once it is recharged. Make sure you do not actually attack, as you need Dark Escape to keep you alive through the initial Zealous Renewal AoE spike.

Zealous Renewal + Intimidating Aura will not strip enchants through Shadow Form.

Now if he would just start dropping that scythe...

VorianVader · Oct 10, 2007, 04:21 AM // 04:21

Yep, tried it last night. E/A works like a charm but the idiot doesnt seem to drop very easily. Did 8 runs without success before I had to go do something else!