Curse

Koning · Jan 06, 2008, 03:09 PM // 15:09

Well, I guess many of you also cleared FoW many times. But, the biggest challenge would probably be to clear the place faster.

Right now, we clear it everytime around 1.5 hour, with the use of 3 essence of celerities ofc (in NM). Because I don't think teambuilds can't be much more optimal or faster (basicly only 1 character that isn't doing damage, the monk), the time needed to 'run' to quests etc, and the order in which they are done, is the most important factor in shaving off more time to complete the lot.

To start off, this is how we do it:

Normally we start with tower of courage (ofcourse), get the 'wailing lord' quest from rastigan, than we move on to get the forgemaster quest on the battlefield. We save him, than clear a few patrols around the ghosts so they are safe. After that we move to the temple of war (where forgemaster is..) and clear the temple.
When that is completed, we complete the 'defend temple of war' quickly by first killing the first few (i believe 2 pairs in total) shadowbeasts that move to the top, and than running downstairs to first aggro the abbysals and the rest (at the entrance to forgemasters temple if you come from battlefield), killing them and than take on the 2nd group downstairs (the entrance which leads to spidercave).
Than we take reward, and take both quests Restore temple of war and Khobay. We move on to the spider cave (after taking 'The Hunt', so shardwolfs spawn) and complete Restore, and move a bit further on the beach to kill the shard wolf which spawns there.
Than we run back, and take the route to the Lake of Fire to complete Khobay. Easy enough, and we than go to the tower of strenght to ensure the towermage can safely come (also kill wurms). When this is done, 1 party member moves to Eternal Lord Taeres to get the quest 'Tower of Strenght', while the others clear the Shadow patrols which spawned. Tower mage comes, and we easily complete it.
Next step is slaves of menzies in the burning forest. Depending on how we feel, we get the quest as soon as we reach him, or we clear the forest first and letting 1 party member run back to grab that quest. Don't think it makes much difference if you send that party member away at the right time.

4 Quests left, we run off to kill a dragon and slay the priest of menzies, so we've completed army of darkness. On the way to reward we slay the shard wolf which spawned on the great battlefield, and than taking the 'little' side entrance to the forest, so we can kill the shard wolf there. Than we move to safe the wailing lord himself (after clearing some patrols in forest). When that's done, we grab the 'gift of griffons' quest from here. Sometimes 1 party member stays behind with the griffons (depending HM/NM), and we go back trough the side entrance to clear any spawns untill we reach our destination, the tower of courage. Than the only thing left to kill is the shard wolf that spawned near the tower of courage, and we're done.
Like I said, normally around 1.5 hour (hoping no1 goes AFK/DC).

Basicly this pic shows the route described in the above text:

Oh, things that are always in our party are a SY! para, monk and a killing machine (warrior I mean).

So, if you think you got tips/better routes/what ever, feel free to share them

杀TanK杀 · Jan 07, 2008, 06:21 AM // 06:21

Goodwork on the map and description

Just curious as to the set-up you find works the best and most effeiciently down there.

Racthoh · Jan 07, 2008, 07:30 AM // 07:30

The current path I take is basically the same.

I've wanted to try this:
After the first quest, take the Wailing Lord and move to the Great Battlefield. From there take Forgemaster and Priest of Menzies. Do the forge and continue as you have the path outlined. After Slaves of Menzies go out and finish the Priest of Menzies, return the book continue into the forest and complete Wailing Lord. Grab the Gift of Griffins returning to the start, kill the last wolf as someone brings the griffins to the tower.

As is we hit two areas twice; Wailing Lord's forest and Great Battlefield. It should cut down time, although you risk dying to the harder quests and missing some experience on the easier ones.

Koning · Jan 07, 2008, 09:01 AM // 09:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racthoh

I've wanted to try this:
After the first quest, take the Wailing Lord and move to the Great Battlefield. From there take Forgemaster and Priest of Menzies. Do the forge and continue as you have the path outlined. After Slaves of Menzies go out and finish the Priest of Menzies, return the book continue into the forest and complete Wailing Lord. Grab the Gift of Griffins returning to the start, kill the last wolf as someone brings the griffins to the tower.

Actually, we did that yesterday already

(I think). I couldn't clearly say if it was any faster (we did priest of menzies still b4 we did forgemaster tho, we only skipped the forest like you said), but when you look at the map it's true that you don't come in the same area twice, so one would expect it's faster.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tank

Just curious as to the set-up you find works the best and most effeiciently down there.

Most of the time that's totally random. Like I said, there's always a SY! para, 1 (hybrid/prot) monk (2 is a waste of space since the damage is far from dangerous with a competent team) and mostly a warrior (either dragonslash/everiscate). We try to bring a rit which trows around splinter weapons/great dwarf weapons on the physicals (he also carries expel hexes and some other usefull stuff), often there's a ss curse necro (altho maybe icy veins would be better? Stuff dies too fast for SS to do any significant dmg), when there's an ele he is the normal mindblast+rodgort guy, dervish does dmg (AoM). The more physicals, the more fun it is imo

Racthoh · Jan 07, 2008, 07:25 PM // 19:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koning

Like I said, there's always a SY! para, 1 (hybrid/prot) monk (2 is a waste of space since the damage is far from dangerous with a competent team) and mostly a warrior (either dragonslash/everiscate).

Agreed, two monks on NM is wasting space. Even without the SY.

MercenaryKnight · Jan 08, 2008, 01:14 AM // 01:14

I have also been wondering on the "fastest/ most efficient" way to complete all the fow quests. Since I plan to go down there with gf and all heroes sometime. Want the monument as well as my fow armor.

Also, what kind of monk build do you normally carry? Since that seems to me like it would be the most important build (everything else is mostly damage with little support here and there).

Also I have a question, after you "complete fow" and open the end chest does it kick you out? Since I will craft armor I am mainly wondering if I can wait until end (thus needing less shards to buy since I get from the chest) Or do I need to craft before I open the chest if a timer perhaps kicks you out soon after.

Since I am a noob, could by any chance someone write on the fow map and say which areas like the shard wolves come out/ important npcs spawn/quest npcs activate. Since I really don't know where I will need to go to protect all the npcs. Since I know once one dies you go back to town and a lot of people have had problems with x spawn/ patrol/ pop up killing their npcs.

Koning · Jan 11, 2008, 01:25 PM // 13:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by MercenaryKnight

Also, what kind of monk build do you normally carry? Since that seems to me like it would be the most important build (everything else is mostly damage with little support here and there).

Uhm, personally I've only monked 1 time in FoW. I was a normal ZB prot. Wasn't that effective; since we did it in HM we took 2 monks (the other was HB healer) so basicly it was rare that ppl's hp dropped below 50% (and even if they did, the HB healer had a bigger chance of healing him first

). Probably next time divert hexes for me, since most of the danger comes from hexes.

However, if we go NM (so with 1 monk) its all not that important anymore. We normally carry an (offmonk) expel hex, so basicly all the monk has to do is heal (since partymembers have +100 AL with SY!, and there's alot more other passive defense). We used HB monks, WoH etc etc. However, if I have to monk again I would vote for ZB monk. (since you ask for a build: ZB/RoF/Remove Hex/PS/SoA (spirit bond for HM)/Dismiss condition/Aegis/GoLE).

Racthoh · Jan 12, 2008, 03:15 AM // 03:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koning

However, if I have to monk again I would vote for ZB monk. (since you ask for a build: ZB/RoF/Remove Hex/PS/SoA (spirit bond for HM)/Dismiss condition/Aegis/GoLE).

Personally I consider any condition removal a waste of a slot in the god's realms.

Koning · Jan 12, 2008, 04:39 PM // 16:39

I think I have to agree on that now, we just finished all-para FoW; without condition removal. Needless to say we steamrolled trough everything

. So yes, it's a wasted slot on a monk (substitutes are probably Gift of health/guardian).

Also, we took the route with first going to forgemaster, and doing army of darkness + wailing lord on the way back from burning forest. It felt (alot) faster, so that's probably the most optimal route I/we can think off

. I updated that on the first post now.

agrios · Mar 09, 2011, 12:19 PM // 12:19

Thanks for this guide. I used to sweep the FoW for the first time with 7 Heroes and it worked like a charm!

+cred for ya.

Black Metal · Mar 11, 2011, 04:04 AM // 04:04

wow that's virtually the exact way I've been doing it (got my survival title just doing these, only used 6 heroes because I parked a 2nd acct at the start, and didn't use any cons), the only difference is I get the book right after taking the quest, instead of getting it after the burning forest as you do it

my runs were geared toward being a bit safer because of the survival aspect of it, and my main was a Warrior, though it might be faster to do it as a Paragon primary after getting survival and just going leroy

Snograt · Mar 11, 2011, 02:55 PM // 14:55

Amazing, isn't it? A guide written three years ago and it's still current!

(the above message may contain traces of sarcasm.)