Curse

kidburla · Nov 12, 2007, 01:12 AM // 01:12

Hi, I am an E/Me20, not able to change secondary profession yet, but have all skills in Ascalon/N Shiverpeaks/Kryta/Maguuma. Prophecies is the only campaign I have. Trying to run through Lornar's to get to Camp Rankor/Deldrimor War Camp. I don't mind whether I run through or fight through, but running seems easier. I am doing this alone (plus a few useless level 12 henchmen).

In Lornar's Pass I keep getting ruined by "Mind Freeze" - it slows me down ridiculously, negating the effect of my run spell ("Armor of Mist"). Normally I put on the enchantment "Hex Breaker" which avoids the first Mind Freeze, but then when another mob uses it, I still get hexed as HB only breaks the first hex.

In terms of fighting through, I've tried that too and try to use AoE spells like Phoenix, Meteor Shower, Fire Storm. But I still get caned.

Any ideas on a good build, either for running or fighting?

Shyft the Pyro · Nov 12, 2007, 06:40 AM // 06:40

1) Search the forums

2) Read the wikis

3) Understand that this particular area was designed to be ridiculously hard, compared to the rest of Prophecies. Yes, the game designers have created the possibility of skipping game content, but actually accomplishing that has probably been a challenge for longer than you've been playing. The builds that work there are the builds that the community came up after endless experimentation.

While now there are multiple ways of completing a "Drok's Run," you still need specific build components to accomplish it: hex removal (or a Spellbreaker effect that makes you ignore them), condition removal, knockdown prevention, healing, speed boost. Without covering all these bases, you will not make it through.

I highly advise that you look up a completely uncovered map of Lornar's Pass before you try again just so you understand how long the run actually is. Oh, and don't forget you have to get through Dreadnought's Drift and Snake Dance, too.

4) Play the game it was intended to be played. Get through the storyline in the usual order and you won't need the run.

5) Give up and pay a runner who has the right build figured out already. Just don't get scammed by the ones who demand payment before starting it.

kidburla · Nov 12, 2007, 01:17 PM // 13:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shyft the Pyro

1) Search the forums

2) Read the wikis

3) Understand that this particular area was designed to be ridiculously hard, compared to the rest of Prophecies. Yes, the game designers have created the possibility of skipping game content, but actually accomplishing that has probably been a challenge for longer than you've been playing. The builds that work there are the builds that the community came up after endless experimentation.

While now there are multiple ways of completing a "Drok's Run," you still need specific build components to accomplish it: hex removal (or a Spellbreaker effect that makes you ignore them), condition removal, knockdown prevention, healing, speed boost. Without covering all these bases, you will not make it through.

I highly advise that you look up a completely uncovered map of Lornar's Pass before you try again just so you understand how long the run actually is. Oh, and don't forget you have to get through Dreadnought's Drift and Snake Dance, too.

4) Play the game it was intended to be played. Get through the storyline in the usual order and you won't need the run.

5) Give up and pay a runner who has the right build figured out already. Just don't get scammed by the ones who demand payment before starting it.

Hi,

I think that I am a lot less naive than you think I am! I have been playing this game for 23 months now, and think I am quite familiar with how hard the run is, how long it is, and the structures of the various areas.

As for your first two suggestions (searching the forums/wikis), yes I have done that. But most people tell me to change my secondary profession (for example, to Assassin), and then try again. However, since I can't change my secondary profession yet, I cannot take this approach.

I'm not sure why you are being quite so patronising with me. You talk of "the builds that the community came up after endless experimentation", well all I was asking was for one of these builds, and more specifically an E/Me build which avoids Mind Freeze in LP!

kidburla · Nov 12, 2007, 01:23 PM // 13:23

As a postscript: in terms of "skipping game content", I do not see what I am doing as "skipping game content". I still intend to play through the missions in the correct order. I simply hold the strong belief that if an area can be reached by exploration, it should be reached by that method before attempting an "easy" method of getting to it by a mission "portal".

Snow Bunny · Nov 12, 2007, 01:47 PM // 13:47

You're going up against lvl24 elementalist mobs with a level 20 and 5 lvl 12's.

There's no way

a. you're going to run through that

b. you're going to fight through it.

You should just do the game normally, beat it, and fight your way there through the bottom end of the Shiverpeaks, where you can pick up lvl20 henchies at the least.

angmar_nite · Nov 12, 2007, 02:12 PM // 14:12

What Snow bunny said. You could also get a pug of 6 level 20's. And don't use pheonix and firestorm...

Antheus · Nov 12, 2007, 03:22 PM // 15:22

Why not hire a runner?

kidburla · Nov 12, 2007, 04:10 PM // 16:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Antheus

Why not hire a runner?

Because I think that's cheating!

Quote:

Originally Posted by angmar_nite

And don't use pheonix and firestorm...

What would you use instead?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snow Bunny

You're going up against lvl24 elementalist mobs with a level 20 and 5 lvl 12's.

There's no way

a. you're going to run through that

b. you're going to fight through it.

But people do run through it! On their own, plus a few low-level players who want to get run to droks. People have been doing this run since well before GWF was released. They are warriors who swear by "Charge!" but this skill has the same speed boost (33%) as Armor Of Mist. So why shouldn't an E/Me be able to run through it?

Abedeus · Nov 12, 2007, 04:21 PM // 16:21

Because E/Me:
Has a limited speed buff abilities.
Has lower armor than warrior.
Worse spell protection than Assassins, Dervishes, Monks

And you think getting a runner is cheating, yet if you want to run, it's not cheating... What's your problem?

Snograt · Nov 12, 2007, 06:49 PM // 18:49

Come on, give the guy a break - I can see where he's coming from. Paying someone else to run you to Droks is cheating to a certain extent - you are using someone to do what you can't do. The guy wants to do the run on his own, using his own skills. To me, that's a noble venture, and I wish him the best of luck.

To the OP - sadly, all the miserable bleeders above are right; you're going to have a right old struggle doing this run. I'd say you have a slim chance of fighting your way through, what I call the attrition method - that is, eventually making it through with -60% DP and a few score added to your /deaths count.

Good luck

mrmango · Nov 12, 2007, 07:32 PM // 19:32

Ok, make a warrior, use the same skills the Droks runners use.
And Hex breaker is a stance, not an enchantment.

Really, you can't do this run as an elementalist. And even if you wanted to try it, you'd be best off being able to change your secondary by now. Beat the game the normal way with the normal mission order and then try this impossible feat with henchmen the bottom way up.

And firestorm stinks because it kills agro in HM, phoenix is just meh. Nightfall has jaded most eles with better skills. Don't use flare.

kidburla · Nov 12, 2007, 08:04 PM // 20:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snograt

Come on, give the guy a break - I can see where he's coming from. Paying someone else to run you to Droks is cheating to a certain extent - you are using someone to do what you can't do. The guy wants to do the run on his own, using his own skills. To me, that's a noble venture, and I wish him the best of luck.

To the OP - sadly, all the miserable bleeders above are right; you're going to have a right old struggle doing this run. I'd say you have a slim chance of fighting your way through, what I call the attrition method - that is, eventually making it through with -60% DP and a few score added to your /deaths count.

Good luck

I'm glad that a fellow Watchmen fan understands me!!

Yes, I accept that I am going to have -60% DP by the time I get through this. I know that from when I "ran" from Bergen Hot Springs to ToA last year. That was a pretty tough run, with lvl12 henchies. Unfortunately, this "attrition" approach is not as easy as in e.g. WoW. In WoW, you can res yourself right next to where you died. However in GW, you will always be returned to the res shrine, which I can imagine will be particularly annoying in Snake Dance. So if I am up against an enemy who just won't die, then the "attrition" approach doesn't help much. I have got plenty of Pumpkin Cookies though, to try to avoid the side-effects of this approach.

I'm not too worried about my /deaths, it's ridiculously higher than most of my friends already.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmango

And firestorm stinks because it kills agro in HM, phoenix is just meh. Nightfall has jaded most eles with better skills. Don't use flare.

I don't have Nightfall. My standard build for "fighting" (rather than running) is Flare/Phoenix/Meteor Shower/Armor of Mist/Backfire/Empathy/Aura of Restoration/Res Sig. Sometimes I take Power Spike as well instead of one of those, especially when facing Hydras and the like who use spells with long cast times. I find Phoenix to be quite effective as I have level 12 or 13 Fire Magic. If you have any better ideas then I'm open to them.

zwei2stein · Nov 12, 2007, 08:46 PM // 20:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by kidburla

I don't have Nightfall. My standard build for "fighting" (rather than running) is Flare/Phoenix/Meteor Shower/Armor of Mist/Backfire/Empathy/Aura of Restoration/Res Sig. Sometimes I take Power Spike as well instead of one of those, especially when facing Hydras and the like who use spells with long cast times. I find Phoenix to be quite effective as I have level 12 or 13 Fire Magic. If you have any better ideas then I'm open to them.

if you didn't learn value of energy management or that flare sucks compared to empty skillslot in 23 months of your gameplay, you are not going to make it, ever. Sorry.

With good build with skills avaiable to you i recon it would take about ~ 10 hours to get to dreaghnout by chiping away at monsters, In dreaghnouts, your run will end as its unlikely that chiping away will work when dolyak master is out there, unless you manage to sneak by that particular mob. Lornars would be another 10 hour marathon with unlikely results and more mobs with healers.

stuff like pupmkins will be gone quite fast as i expect several wipes at each enemy group, and henches are not going to really matter as 60dp L12 are one hit wonders.

Dont even dream about running throught it. If you cant run past first mob on map with your best options, think again.

Quote:

...simply hold the strong belief that if an area can be reached by exploration,...

This should be lesson to you that having strong belief in something is one of wort things that can happen to you. And its not just matter of game.

DRGN · Nov 12, 2007, 08:59 PM // 20:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by kidburla

I'm glad that a fellow Watchmen fan understands me!!

Yes, I accept that I am going to have -60% DP by the time I get through this. I know that from when I "ran" from Bergen Hot Springs to ToA last year. That was a pretty tough run, with lvl12 henchies. Unfortunately, this "attrition" approach is not as easy as in e.g. WoW. In WoW, you can res yourself right next to where you died. However in GW, you will always be returned to the res shrine, which I can imagine will be particularly annoying in Snake Dance. So if I am up against an enemy who just won't die, then the "attrition" approach doesn't help much. I have got plenty of Pumpkin Cookies though, to try to avoid the side-effects of this approach.

That approach isn't going to work no matter how many cookies you have. Even if by some miracle you got to Snake Dance, you won't be able to scratch the Mountain Trolls, the Azure Shadows will wipe your party with Signet of Judgment before you even get a spell off, and the Tundra Giants will keep you on your ass with Giant Stomp and wipe you in that time. It's good to have goals, yes, but goals should be achievable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kidburla

I don't have Nightfall. My standard build for "fighting" (rather than running) is Flare/Phoenix/Meteor Shower/Armor of Mist/Backfire/Empathy/Aura of Restoration/Res Sig. Sometimes I take Power Spike as well instead of one of those, especially when facing Hydras and the like who use spells with long cast times. I find Phoenix to be quite effective as I have level 12 or 13 Fire Magic. If you have any better ideas then I'm open to them.

If you've gotten to Fisherman's Haven then you ought to be able to run something like this:
[skill]Fireball[/skill] [skill]Meteor[/skill] [skill]Meteor Shower[/skill] [skill]Immolate[/skill] [skill]Incendiary Bonds[/skill] [skill]Aura of Restoration[/skill] [skill]Fire Attunement[/skill] [skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

You can cap Bonds off some boss in Kryta(it's on wiki). If you have other elementalist skills unlocked and/or have a lot of Balth faction, then there's some other skills to use such as [skill]Rodgort's Invocation[/skill] and [skill]Glyph of Sacrifice[/skill](for Meteor Shower). But the above build is just assuming you don't have access to a whole lot of skills.

mrmango · Nov 12, 2007, 10:49 PM // 22:49

Don't spec in mesmer attributes for damage like that. Backfire is too expensive energy wise and last barely long enough for it to be good, even for PVE. Empathy should be on a mesmer. Armor of mist - why? (power spike --> no, if you MUST have an interupt, leech signet)

Snow Bunny · Nov 12, 2007, 11:38 PM // 23:38

Regardless.

You won't get through the area.

I consider myself a reasonably halfway not-so incompetent monk, and....I can't monk hard enough with a henchy team to simply compensate for

a. the garbage armor of the henchies
b. the level difference. The enemies being twice the level of the henchies will result in their generally overpowered spells doing horrific amounts of damage. It's the reason Mind Freeze normally wipes out Orion in a shot.

Please, last time I'll stay polite here.

You can't do it here. Get some elites, and go through the south where the henchies are stronger and you'll have a greater viability of not ragequitting the game after facing literally impossible odds.

blue.rellik · Nov 13, 2007, 05:34 AM // 05:34

If you make it pass the imps then you got wurms. If you get past them then you either go through massive hordes of stone summit, grawl or mountain trolls.

If you make it past them then you go into Dreadnaught's drift. You either go past massive amounts of stone summit then large groups of tundra giants.

Then you get into Snake Dance which is the longest part. You start off with large groups of trolls and giants then smiting nightmares then more stone summit and griffons.

Then you reach Camp Rankor which is a party size of 8 and has lvl 20 henchmen.

Seriously you are not getting through there. Seriously either run it (which you won't) or play the game seriously.

jeejeeTuukka · Nov 13, 2007, 06:49 AM // 06:49

The stance most people take on your post is sad. When I first started prophecies I also tried Lornar's pass several times. It purely was beyond me how it should be completed. After countless attempts i ended up giving up, my brave wammo wasn't up for it... yet.

I encourage you to try. That's how great builds are made, people trying endlessly to accomplish something (as someone mentioned earlier). Even if it doesn't work out, u will acquire a great deal of experience about that particular run.

Just remember to post you're E/X build on PvXwiki once you've done it.

good luck!

Oh and btw... Once I got charge, my brave Wammo completed the notorious droknar run.

zwei2stein · Nov 13, 2007, 08:17 AM // 08:17

Okay, i will be nice to you:

0) Get to desert, get more skills.

1) Fam, farm your ass off. Get at least 150k, the more the merrier.
2) Buy GWEN consumables:
* i recon your trip to take about 25-30 hours of unintetupted playtime, you can leave your computer running overnight so that it does not need to be one session. If your connection is unstable get some program that that would wake you up when you get DC so that you can reconect.
* you will need at least 50 of each consumable: armor of salvation, grail of holy might (most important!) and essence of celerity. these consumables are for your whole party and are not canceled when you die, and they basically make henchies equivalent of ~L18/20, making them much less useless.
* seek out player with gwen and buy them from him. pay 1k per piece, or less if you can haggle. But some powerstones with left money, use those only when you are at 60 DP to get most of them and only if you are unable to chip away at monsters at all.
3) Take some time PvPing and unlock some late game skills that would help you out. if its elite, use tome for normal skills just buy at trainer.
4) If you still feel insecure /you should/, get more party wide dp removals.
5) also, you can get some cheap XP scrolls since if you manage to kill several monsters in row, it will help to recover DP.

6) get gwen or nf, seriously, heroes would make this much more doable.

Edit:

7) !!! Get armor set with full survivor insignia and vitae runes, minor fire and minor estorage, sup vigor. get either +60 HP staff or caster sword with +5e +30hp and focus with +30hp. This should nto cost more than aditional 50k, your best armor available should be in desert.

Pick Me · Nov 13, 2007, 06:36 PM // 18:36

Doing the run by yourself (even with henchies) is too hard for you (I would think). You do not have the necessary elites to do the run (like obsidian flesh).

Fighting would be the only true option you have.

Now I can't remember where exactly you can get these skills, hopefully they are available to you where you have been.

Armor of Mist or wards against the elements

You don't have all 200 attribute points, to you are hurting with that, armor, and of course skills (especially with 0 elites).

Trying different builds is fine, but with a lack of attributes and skills, it is hard to create a build that can do the run. Obviously, running from Camp Rankor through Lonar's Pass is easier.

Use Hex Breaker early, so when you get into a small mob of imps, you have hex breaker on, and hex breaker recharged. So when they hit you once, you stop it, then quickly use hex breaker again before you get hit by the 2nd one.

I'd suggest you just play through the game, I know it maybe boring, but at least you'll get to where you want to go.