Curse

remmeh · Mar 25, 2006, 09:01 PM // 21:01

R/Me Solo FoW Forest Farming [video]
by Alana Stormwood aka The Preservationist

before I start... I would like to thank LAMS3K for his guide, which I relied heavily upon.
The reason that I am using R/Me is that I believe it can be done much more easily than LAMS3K's R/Mo build. but that's just me =) and i like to have 2 run skills just to make the run to the forest much easier.

relevant links:
LAMS3K's R/Mo guide - http://aag.dns1.us/fowforestv2.html

first things first.
video [13:48, WMV, ~130MB] is here: http://files.filefront.com/rangerfow.../fileinfo.html
VIDEO OF THE RUN : http://files.filefront.com/fowforest.../fileinfo.html

next things next. the build I use:
R/Me
7+2 Expertise
12+1 Wilderness Survival
8+1 Marksmanship
8 Inspiration

Dual Shot
Poison Arrow [e]
Distracting Shot
Kindle Arrows
Storm Chaser
Troll Unguent
Mantra of Lightning
Physical Resistance

I am using full Druid's (Expertise Mask) with a Major Vigor rune.
Base HP: 521

weapons:
Drago's Flat Bow, 15-28; req.9; 15>50; AP 10/10; HP+30; Customized
Poisonous Longbow of Defense, 13-25; req.6; 10% in stance; -2 damage received in stance; Lengthens Poison duration on Foe by 33%; AL+5; Customized (Blankets for the Settlers quest: Captain Greywind, Ascalon Settlement)

note1: the video only covers the actual farming of the Forest area. it assums you know how to run to the Forest from the starting point. =)

spirit shepherds: stay out of spellcasting range with a flatbow. keep mantra of lightning on and you can spam savage shot all you want, and you'll never run out of energy. mantra of lightning also helps when one of them comes in spellcasting range, you take ~38 from lightning strike, ~66 from chain lightning.
skills: Lightning Strike, Iron Mist, Chain Lightning
gear: Flatbow, Mantra of Lightning

rock borer worms: they don't even shoot at you anymore. but their damage is lightning as well, so if they happen to shoot you, just keep mantra of lightning on and you can easily tank a group of 3. also you don't have any spells for choking gas to interrupt.
skills: Choking Gas, Pin Down
gear: Flatbow, Mantra of Lightning

spirit woods: these come in groups of 2, and they hit for a lot. anywhere from 20-50 regularly without physical resistance on. with physical resistance, they hit for anywhere from 5-20. use your -2 in stance longbow. interrupt troll unguent (it's got a 10sec timer, so you can learn to expect it)
skills: Primal Echoes, Edge of Extinction, Nature's Renewal, Troll Unguent
gear: -2 stance Longbow, Physical Resistance

armored cave spiders: these will be the hardest guys you face. make sure to take at most one at a time. the strategy you want to use is: keep it poisoned, keep troll unguent, physical resistance, and kindle arrows up, make sure to interrupt healing spring. and did i mention? only fight one at a time =)
skills: Apply Poison, Melandru's Resilience, Healing Spring, Called Shot
gear: -2 stance Longbow, Physical Resistance

spirit shepherds and spirit woods: same strategy as listed above. they come in groups of 3 spirit shepherds and 1 spirit wood. take out the spirit wood first, because the shepherds won't do any substantial damage to you.
gear: Flatbow, Mantra of Lightning

just be methodical and careful and you'll get it. i promise.

total run time: ~90 minutes, cleared forest

net total notable drops from that run: (typical)
3 Obsidian Shards
1 Gold (14% Stance) Chaos Axe req.10
~3k in gold and drops

note2: The video has me using 9+2 Expertise, 11+1 Wilderness, 8+1 Marks, 8 Inspiration. turns out you only really need 9 expertise for savage shot to cost 6e. the next relevant Expertise breakpoint is 13, but i like having the extra HP (especially for spiders)

note3: if your question has not been answered above or in the video, please contact me in game.

note4: music used:
Metric - Combat Baby
Of Montreal - Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games
Crossfade - Starless
Depeche Mode - Precious

enjoy

EDIT: UPDATED WITH RUNNING MAP

Notes:
location 1. run past the first group of Shadow Army and hide in the little nook in the wall to the right. You will just barely miss a patrol of 1 Mo, 2 W.
location 2. tricky part. you CANNOT aggro the skeletal icehands and expect to live 100% of the time, so this is how i handle the spawn:

1. if you can sneak past the skeletals without aggroing them, do that when they all come back to one point.
2. if you can't sneak past, you'll need to pull the skeletals into the shadow army group of 3. this is what i do:

- troll unguent first.
- run (normal speed) past the shadow army and shoot an arrow at the skeletals without being in spellcasting range of the skeletals.
- begin running back toward the indicated stop point.
- as soon as the skeletals engage the shadow army, hit storm chaser and run like hell toward the forest.

location 3. also make sure not to aggro the skeletals here. deep freeze = death.

if anyone has a better way to do this... you know where to post.

Nero · Mar 25, 2006, 09:15 PM // 21:15

Sounds good man, i'll check this out

Hockster · Mar 26, 2006, 12:23 AM // 00:23

Nicely done.

LAMS3K · Mar 26, 2006, 07:25 AM // 07:25

Awesome video.

This may be slower than the current build I use(posted on these forums) but it appears to be far easier to use. Maybe more Rangers will actually go solo this place

I'm glad to see my work has inspired others to create builds for the Wailing Lord's Forest. If you want to speed it up, I suggest dropping Dodge and replacing it with Dual Shot. Let's see now there is: R/Mo, R/Me, and someone is working on a R/W build.

remmeh · Mar 26, 2006, 08:30 PM // 20:30

hey lams3k. probably a good idea to take another attack skill to speed up the run. =)

and i looked through your guide and was saying to myself... "this looks hard..." and then i discovered the way to kill shepherds easily

mint · Mar 26, 2006, 10:03 PM // 22:03

awesome work on the video.

Just a quick comment: healing spring is a trap -> it is easily interruptable -> you don't need to use savage shot to interrupt it

remmeh · Mar 26, 2006, 11:59 PM // 23:59

i use the longbow... has a refire of 2.5sec. healing spring has a cast of 2.0sec. i use savage shot to make sure i get it.

Nawn Centz · Mar 27, 2006, 12:47 AM // 00:47

Veddy veddy nice, too bad I don't have a ranger.

Ephemeral Dreamer · Mar 27, 2006, 05:02 AM // 05:02

Just tired out your build, and must say I had easier time farming the forest with my ranger(for the run I'm guessing I got lucky with a good spawn) then the spider cave with my warrior, and found I was doing alot more damage with a fiery longbow I brought with me (with drago's i was hitting in the 15-25range against the shepards, while with the fiery 20-35). Thanks again for sharing such a great build (also thought said the same thing well i saw lams3k guide, but I also said the same thing well I saw your guide, just tired it since your guide didn't need as much armour switching)

Edit: Just realized why my longbow was doing more damage, it was customized X_x

remmeh · Mar 27, 2006, 05:19 AM // 05:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ephemeral Dreamer

Just tired out your build, and must say I had easier time farming the forest with my ranger(for the run I'm guessing I got lucky with a good spawn) then the spider cave with my warrior, and found I was doing alot more damage with a fiery longbow I brought with me (with drago's i was hitting in the 15-25range against the shepards, while with the fiery 20-35). Thanks again for sharing such a great build (also thought said the same thing well i saw lams3k guide, but I also said the same thing well I saw your guide, just tired it since your guide didn't need as much armour switching)

thanks. if you're using kindle, it should change your bow damage type to fire anyway.

Skuld · Mar 27, 2006, 05:05 PM // 17:05

to kill the spiders:

DONT poison them, wait untill the spring and poison is interupted, then renew your kindle when needed. if you miss an apply poison, run off and wait for it to wear off.

remmeh · Mar 27, 2006, 06:18 PM // 18:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skuld

to kill the spiders:

DONT poison them, wait untill the spring and poison is interupted, then renew your kindle when needed. if you miss an apply poison, run off and wait for it to wear off.

no? poison is -4 degen, melandru's resilience gives +3... how is no degen better than -1 degen? just curious. or am i missing something?

Mahanaxar · Mar 28, 2006, 03:19 PM // 15:19

Good job, nice find.
A ss of my first run:

I tried to fight a couple of berserker skeleton things, but wild blow>physical resistance.

Frits · Mar 28, 2006, 06:05 PM // 18:05

I tried it and succeded the second time. Until, while running to the other side past the Skeletons, I got body blocked by the berserkers and ran into a spike trap and got killed.

jimmyhats · Mar 28, 2006, 09:18 PM // 21:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by mint

awesome work on the video.

Just a quick comment: healing spring is a trap -> it is easily interruptable -> you don't need to use savage shot to interrupt it

aside from the fasct that savage guarantees youll still get the shot in with your longbow.... troll unguent, is NOT a trap, and also needs to be interrupted.

Ephemeral Dreamer · Mar 28, 2006, 10:13 PM // 22:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skuld

to kill the spiders:

DONT poison them, wait untill the spring and poison is interupted, then renew your kindle when needed. if you miss an apply poison, run off and wait for it to wear off.

Never had trouble with the spiders since I usually lure out 1. And with Physical Resistance, and troll Urgent I usually don't bother to interrupt thier apply poision, since troll out heals the posion damage, and the damage I'm taking from the spider, rather I just keep firing away. And like Remmeh said Melandru's Resilience gives +3 health regan, while your posion shot has a -4degen, so why don't you poison them?

remmeh · Mar 29, 2006, 12:32 AM // 00:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ephemeral Dreamer

Never had trouble with the spiders since I usually lure out 1. And with Physical Resistance, and troll Urgent I usually don't bother to interrupt thier apply poision, since troll out heals the posion damage, and the damage I'm taking from the spider, rather I just keep firing away. And like Remmeh said Melandru's Resilience gives +3 health regan, while your posion shot has a -4degen, so why don't you poison them?

scars of insanity · Mar 29, 2006, 01:25 AM // 01:25

this has inspired me to keep working on leveling my ranger. im tired of my 55 monk and this sounds like a fun way to farm. thanks!

Solberg the Exiled · Mar 29, 2006, 02:20 AM // 02:20

A very nice video I must say, very helpful. Now I just need to come up with a way to farm that fiery area with all those furnace drakes and stuff.

remmeh · Mar 29, 2006, 03:07 AM // 03:07

i've actually manage to make it to the back of that area (the fiery forest) but that is not a small number of skales... holy crap