Curse

cellardweller · Jun 17, 2007, 01:46 PM // 13:46

Updated! Now with Video!

The purpose of this run is to get fast faction as with heroes/henchies. It got me from 0 to 100k faction in one weeked so I thought I'd share.

Where: Arborstone Explorable Hard Mode
With: Warrior/Dervish/Geotank/SoA monk/anything that can take a beating.
What: 1040 faction from kuzik blessings
How: video here
How long: 4-6 minutes
Important note: Make sure that you do not have the quest "Song and Stone" active

The team:
Human Warrior
[skill]dragon slash[/skill][skill]Whirlwind Attack[/skill][skill]Silverwing Slash[/skill][skill]Galrath Slash[/skill][skill]Gash[/skill][skill]Enraging Charge[/skill][skill]Flail[/skill][skill]"Watch Yourself!"[/skill]

BHA Hero
[skill]Broad Head Arrow[/skill][skill]Distracting Shot[/skill][skill]Savage Shot[/skill][skill]Forked Arrow[/skill][skill]Screaming Shot[/skill][skill]Read the Wind[/skill][skill]Lightning Reflexes[/skill][skill]Edge of Extinction[/skill]

Spiteful + SV/AV Hero
[skill]Spiteful Spirit[/skill][skill]Barbs[/skill][skill]Enfeebling Blood[/skill][skill]Well of Silence[/skill][skill]Signet of Lost Souls[/skill][skill]Sympathetic Visage[/skill][skill]Ancestor's Visage[/skill][skill]Frustration[/skill]

Generic Nuker Hero
[skill]Fire Attunement[/skill][skill]Mark of Rodgort[/skill][skill]Searing Flames[/skill][skill]Liquid Flame[/skill][skill]Glowing Gaze[/skill][skill]Fireball[/skill][skill]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/skill][skill]Putrid Explosion[/skill]

Henchmen:
Danika & Redemptor Karl - They'll keep you alive
Sheena - Putrid Explosion and Risng Bile are full of armour ignoring goodness.
Brutus - Icy Veins and Risng Bile make sure that mobs all drop at once.

The path to take

Group 1 3 warriors, 2 ritualists.
Method: Flag the henchies at the bottom of the his and bodyblock the corner. The SS nec will have the warriors dead in a couple of seconds, then release the henchies and take out the two ritualists. See image below for positioning

Group 2/3: 3 Rangers
No threat at all, just run in and mob them. If they are patrolling in inconventient spots, attacking their spirits will draw them to you.

Group 4/5: 3 warriors, 2 ritualists
With clever body blocking, you can take both these groups at once. See below for positioning. Kill the warriors first then mop up the ritualists.

Group 6: Varies
This group tends to fall over pretty quickly, so its not worth body blocking. Just go in ahead of the henchmen and any tree wardens will fall over fast enough.

Group 7: Stonereap
BHA renders him harmless

Group 8: Stonewrath
See stonereap

Group 9: Stoneweaver
If you have a bar like mine prepare to be hit for 450 by signet of rage, but otherwise bha kills him quick smart.

Variant:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antithesis

[skill]Enraging Charge[/skill][skill]Flail[/skill][skill]Splinter Weapon[/skill][skill]Hundred Blades[/skill][skill]Whirlwind Attack[/skill][skill]Sun and Moon Slash[/skill][skill]Warmonger's Weapon[/skill][skill]Wailing Weapon[/skill]
Template Code: OQgjEpUroSGW8VYM9F7gTNXbaMA

Splinter Weapon goes off like a bomb on the Warriors using Enraging Charge > Flail > Splinter Weapon > Hundred Blades > Splinter Weapon > Whirlwind Attack > Splinter Weapon > Sun and Moon Slash.
Flail + Hundred Blades / Sun and Moon Slash combines well with Broad Head Arrow for additional interrupts on your target.
Wailing Weapon keeps the Ritualists permanently on their arses and does the same to the Monk boss.
Warmonger's Weapon completely neutralises both the Necro and Ele bosses.

I haven't tried it myself but it looks like a very good addition (I'm far to lazy to switch off my normal pve build before going on a run :P)

Have fun and happy hunting

The Great Al · Jun 18, 2007, 01:21 AM // 01:21

Looks good! I play as a SF elem, I don't know if you're stopping at 100k faction but if not, I'd definitely do some runs with you...my IGN is The Great Al, give me a whisper anytime...same goes for anyone else who reads this and is interested.

Avatar Exico · Jun 18, 2007, 03:40 AM // 03:40

Nice touch for ppl who dont like to FFF or AB this is good choice.

Batou of Nine · Jun 18, 2007, 05:59 AM // 05:59

hehe. With lowering of titles per faction amount and affect on PvE skills, and faction bounties, it seems faction farming will get popular again!

I guess you didnt do the classic fast faction farming (fff) method back in Factions hayday. One could get upwards of 10k an hour, essentially 100k in 10 hours. I was always part of the alliance that controlled HzH in those days, and we had refined it to a virtual science...

Place: Melandru's Hope (right outside of Lutgardis). Quest: Securing Echovald Forest.
No fighting needed, 1-2 minute runs, learn the route, refine your skill choices, gain gold/faction/xp per run. Best with multiple runners. You may be able to find running guides for fff here on GwG in the Community Works section, or elsewhere.

GL, HF! and get those titles maxed! will make ur faction PvE skills that much more fun!

cheers.

EDIT::

Quote:

Originally Posted by Avatar Exico

Nice touch for ppl who dont like to FFF or AB this is good choice.

Oh yay, good point. Btw cellardweller, nice work on the guide!

cellardweller · Jun 18, 2007, 07:25 AM // 07:25

The FFF run is faster if you've got enough friends to do it with. If you're alergic to strangers like me, and have to run it alone, then it can take 5+ minutes.

BTW Don't expect any good drops here. Even in hard mode you can regulary kill the 28 bad guys and only have a warden's horn to show for your troubles. During the 100 runs I did a single stonereaper was the only green dropped and the only golds were a couple of passage scrolls. Makes you wonder what all the bots are doing lol.

Abonai Laguna · Jun 18, 2007, 09:59 AM // 09:59

wow, wait what?
Do u get faction for killin monsters these days?

DarioLeanza · Jun 18, 2007, 12:14 PM // 12:14

Yes you can with blessings....

cellardweller · Jun 18, 2007, 01:19 PM // 13:19

I took some time to optimise the builds for speed tonight, and with the following setup I'm regularly getting sub 5 minute runs now which puts the farm on par with FFF runs (Yay!). The two bits you need to get right are:
1) Successfully Pulling groups 4/5 together. I've found by letting one warrior through before closing the bodyblock, it will draw the ritualists into the SV/AV zone as they try to cast on him and they drop in seconds.
2) Attacking spirits to draw the 2 rangers into the correct positions so you don't have to wait for them to patrol to the right spot.

<build removed to prevent confusion. Use the one in the OP>

On a side note, its funny how fast the bosses drop under frustration/BHA

RainwalkerC · Jun 18, 2007, 05:26 PM // 17:26

Thank you very much, i will totoaly try

The Great Al · Jun 18, 2007, 05:57 PM // 17:57

cellardwellar, what's your IGN?

ArKaiN · Jun 18, 2007, 08:00 PM // 20:00

pretty sure its better to take off forked arrow for serpent's quickness. 10 second recharge on BHA= good.

«Ripskin · Jun 19, 2007, 04:35 AM // 04:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by cellardweller

The FFF run is faster if you've got enough friends to do it with. If you're alergic to strangers like me, and have to run it alone, then it can take 5+ minutes.

That run takes two minutes for me... And I hate strangers.. damn leachers. So I usually do it by myself, best sin build Evar.

1. Dark Escape
2. Storm Chaser
3. Zojuns Haste
4. Dodge
5. Shadow form
6. Shadow refuge (or troll ungeunt)

Can run anything, and it's faster than all those dark prison crap builds. I've been using that one for about 6 months now.

Now that's how you ff, and it's not fff, it's ff. :P

Btw, what's the difference between fff and ff?

Antithesis · Jun 19, 2007, 05:40 AM // 05:40

Any chance of posting a video run cellardweller?

It's taking me a solid 15 mins to do each run and the mobs are very different. Are you getting the stone guys popping out of the columns near the bosses? I have Song and Stone as an active quest, maybe that's affecting the spawn.

[edit] Dropped Song and Stone, much easier!

Got it down to 10mins first run with your build. Doing consistent 5-6 min runs now, thanks for the build!

Enko · Jun 19, 2007, 06:07 AM // 06:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by «Ripskin

That run takes two minutes for me... And I hate strangers.. damn leachers. So I usually do it by myself, best sin build Evar.

1. Dark Escape
2. Storm Chaser
3. Zojuns Haste
4. Dodge
5. Shadow form
6. Shadow refuge (or troll ungeunt)

Can run anything, and it's faster than all those dark prison crap builds. I've been using that one for about 6 months now.

Now that's how you ff, and it's not fff, it's ff. :P

Btw, what's the difference between fff and ff?

FFF = Fast Faction Farm.

how you're doing the scouting mission in 2 minutes by yourself is beyond me since groups that are optimized for it are getting it in just around 1 minute.

Star Alfur · Jun 19, 2007, 08:21 AM // 08:21

Not exactly a blessing farm, but I've found that repeating the Duel of the Houses quests outside Brauer (sp) is a nice way for hero/hench FFing ... my average speed is 400 faction / 1min 20-30sec.

With 2-3 copies of "Charge!" / "Fall Back!", the walk to the fight is ~45 seconds. Make someone /R for frozen soil. Splinter Weapon + Barrage/Cyclone Axe along with some other AoE practically destroys the initial mob clump, while 2 SF mop up the rest for me.

The only issue is the Assassin+Warrior team, which sometimes isn't too willing to bunch up for a clean AoE spike.

Can go into more detail if wished, though the builds can easily be switched around depending on your profession.

«Ripskin · Jun 19, 2007, 01:44 PM // 13:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enko

FFF = Fast Faction Farm.

how you're doing the scouting mission in 2 minutes by yourself is beyond me since groups that are optimized for it are getting it in just around 1 minute.

Yes, but what's the difference between fff and ff?

And I hate ff-ers, they annoy me.

I never stop except for once right after shrooms, and only for 3 seconds. But I dunno I only get 2 minutes /age whenever I finish.

Sun Fired Blank · Jun 19, 2007, 03:07 PM // 15:07

As a side note, on the Luxon side, does anyone have a stronger option than the Jade Arena? I nail the quest in just over 3 minutes; I figure that's about 7,000 faction every hour, or closer to 8,500 if I grab the blessing. It's also minimally profitable; I'd say about 3-4 platinum and levels per hour, if you don't spend for the blessing.

volgaris · Jun 20, 2007, 02:21 AM // 02:21

Hmm when I go outside I never see a group at 1 or 3 on your map and i usually have 15 kills by the time i get to stonereap and the whole run I probably net 800 or so xp...is there some quest you keep active? Or am I just missing something completely?

MrSlayer · Jun 20, 2007, 09:02 AM // 09:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by «Ripskin

That run takes two minutes for me... And I hate strangers.. damn leachers. So I usually do it by myself, best sin build Evar.

1. Dark Escape
2. Storm Chaser
3. Zojuns Haste
4. Dodge
5. Shadow form
6. Shadow refuge (or troll ungeunt)

Can run anything, and it's faster than all those dark prison crap builds. I've been using that one for about 6 months now.

Now that's how you ff, and it's not fff, it's ff. :P

Btw, what's the difference between fff and ff?

Bullcrap you can do it in 2 minutes. Video proof or you're lying.

And the shadowstepping builds are faster, since you can take a massive shortcut and just step down off hills.

Xiaxhou of Trinity · Jun 20, 2007, 09:52 AM // 09:52

@ batou: virtual science? hmm, ab quest run and lutgard's is science? who woulda thought......

Luxon's are obviously disadvantaged in FF, look at the faction difference between HzH and Cavalon (are they still competitively keeping the outposts? to me faction went down the drain months ago....). The only way I've been gaining lux faction is through ab, though I haven't done the jade arena for a while (been wrapped up in survivor title/NF/TA). I think that luxon FF is severely slow and crippled compared to kurz....