Curse

LAMS3K · Apr 21, 2006, 02:29 PM // 14:29

First area around Rastigan clear.

The middle area around the tower. I only took out two abyssals and four shadow Rangers.

The last area I really did anything in.

Ok, now how to go about doing this.

Skills:

Poison Arrows {E}
Distracting Shot
Concussion Shot
Troll Unguent
Smite Hex
Kindle Arrows
Whirling Defense
Storm Chaser

Attribute Distribution:

Expertise: 11
Wilderness Survival: 12
Marksmanship: 14

Equipment:

Short Bow (I use 15>50 Collectors)
Longbow

Note: Health mods are useful here. You are often escaping with only ten health left.

Armor:
I recommend you have at least a Mask of Superior Marksmanship and one with Superior Wilderness Survival. Although, only Marksmanship is required.

How to start:
Run to the left through the shadow group and wait for the patrol with a Warrior and Beast. Poison the Warrior and interrupt Healing Signet when it is being casted. Afterwards you can either assassinate the Monk in the group you previously ran through or you can take on the the Monk and Beast patrols. This should get you started, tactics against certain groups are listed below. I will hint at some of the more involved strategies within the basic tactics.

Monk+2 Warriors + Beast:

Use your short bow or equivelent. Essentially the first thing you do to this group is assassinate the Monk, this must be done in about 17 seconds. Get close, target the beast, use Troll Unguent followed by Kindle Arrows(hint...masks,) interrupt Spiteful Spirit and then IMMEDIATELY poison the Monk. If the Warriors are just about to hit you use Whirling Defense. Move close to the Monk and prepare to interrupt Healing Breeze with Concussion Shot.

Elementalists:

Poison and run if there is more than one. If there is only one then Concussion Shot is your friend(hint...following distance).

Mesmers:

Poison and run. Make sure you run away a good distance as Illusion of Haste can allow the Mesmer to keep up with you and bring the rest of his/her friends(hint...following distance).

Monks:

Poison + Concussion Shot = Screwed. Need I say more?

Abyssals:

Poison and run and poison. Essentially, hit & run.

Rangers:

Poison and use Distracting Shot on Troll Unguent(hint...dodgearrow

)

Beasts:

Ummm...yeah. Dazed or distract Spiteful Spirit.

Warrior:

Don't get hit by them, they HURT! Poison and distract Healing Signet.(hint...storm)

Monk + Beast:

Basic idea, Spiteful Spirit hurts! Interrupt SS before poisoning the Monk. Then obviously use Concussion Shot on the Monk.

General Notes:

If your health gets down in the 60's get out of battle. You probably have SS on you and are going to die if you use Troll Unguent.

Be patient. Don't rush or you will find yourself in a rather bad mess.

Kindle Arrows adds damage. Your goal is kill things quickly before they kill you. I suggest using it when you feel it is appropiate.

Smite Hex is not very useful for damage but be sure when you use it, you are using it to remove Spiteful Spirit. SS needs to be the top hex on your stack.

You can take out any group with a Monk in it. Just be sure to assassinate the Monk first.

Drops:

I got 15 shards during my testing(2 days). A few keys, a rare Shadow Blade, and a bunch of junk.

Other Areas:

Without even realizing it until now, I believe this build will work for the Wailing Lord's Forest, Snarling Driftwood, Doubter's Dryder's, and maybe Ancient Skales(very unlikely). I'll be testing and confirming this over the next few weeks.

Enjoy.

sh4ft3d · Apr 21, 2006, 02:37 PM // 14:37

Nice. I assume its quite difficult to pull of though.

Tigers Anger · Apr 21, 2006, 04:32 PM // 16:32

Nice, i'm gona try this, could use a video to help me though.

SnipiousMax · Apr 21, 2006, 04:45 PM // 16:45

How does the difficulty/speed compare to a forest run?

Anarion Silverhand · Apr 21, 2006, 05:09 PM // 17:09

Great job LAMS3K! You always come up with the greatest stuff

SnipiousMax · Apr 21, 2006, 05:56 PM // 17:56

Is Smite hex a major damage dealer?

Could you use Shatter Hex/ Inspired hex to do this? (R/Me Build)

LAMS3K · Apr 21, 2006, 06:02 PM // 18:02

I'll try and make a video soon.

It's harder than a forest run. I have not timed it, so I cannot say.

Smite Hex is only there to remove hexes, the damage it does is little help at best.

Sir Mad · Apr 21, 2006, 07:00 PM // 19:00

Have you tried remove hex instead then? Smite hex's recharge time is 15sec - only 7 for RE...

Otherwise, great to have one more build to try out! Thanks!

icecoldholyroller · Apr 21, 2006, 07:58 PM // 19:58

Good Job man I was wondering when you were going to post this yO!

Rhuobhe · Apr 21, 2006, 09:05 PM // 21:05

Awesome. Even if it takes a while to do, still very nice. Perhaps a reason to dust off my ranger and put her to good use.

Huntmaster · Apr 21, 2006, 09:22 PM // 21:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sir Mad

Have you tried remove hex instead then?

2 Second cast time. Personally, i'd use Holy Viel..

Valerius · Apr 22, 2006, 12:23 AM // 00:23

i just tried this... was pretty hard and not worth the time imo... you'll make more gold solo'ing the Forest... this is definately more difficult so i guess you could farm here for the challenge?

Sab · Apr 22, 2006, 01:27 AM // 01:27

Very nice! Next thing for you to do is to solo the first quest.

prencher · Apr 23, 2006, 02:47 AM // 02:47

I'm not convinced this build would be useful for forest lam3sk.. Physical Resistance is quite important against the spirit woods and probably the spiders too.

I'd say you need some more defensive stances from ranger to make it work there, or a monk equiv to phys resistance.

Maybe if you switch out concussion shot for like lightning reflexes and smite hex for dodge it'd work there.. sounds like alot more work than just popping up phys. resistance though

remmeh · Apr 23, 2006, 03:24 AM // 03:24

pretty cool. although I agree with some of the previous posters, this looks like it's too difficult to do on a leisurely basis. perhaps for the challenge then

LAMS3K · Apr 23, 2006, 04:32 AM // 04:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by prencher

I'm not convinced this build would be useful for forest lam3sk.. Physical Resistance is quite important against the spirit woods and probably the spiders too.

Spirit Woods are pathetic, just dodge their arrows(in this case boulders.) The spiders just have to be killed the old way, which includes distracting Apply Poison and keep Troll Unguent up while interrupting Healing Spring. I believe I described that procedure in my original guide.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Could you use Shatter Hex/ Inspired hex to do this? (R/Me Build)

Probably. Although the 15 energy cost will probably hurt a bit and Inspired Hex essentially has a 20 second recharge time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valerius

i just tried this... was pretty hard and not worth the time imo... you'll make more gold solo'ing the Forest... this is definately more difficult so i guess you could farm here for the challenge?

My intent was to see if a Ranger could pull this off. Especially when you consider there are groups of eight that are completely destroyed by the first battle. This does take longer than a forest run and is far more challenging but the potential for shards is a lot higher, especially when you consider that after killing as much of the Shadow Army as you can, you can always head to the Wailing Lord's forest and likely the shore. Not to mention it is fun to actually have a challenge farming.

EDIT: I don't like Game Cam or Fraps so I'm going to try a hardware approach. If it does not work then there probably will not be a video.

prencher · Apr 23, 2006, 04:41 AM // 04:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAMS3K

Spirit Woods are pathetic, just dodge their arrows(in this case boulders.)

By this you mean strafing I'm guessing? That'd just prolong the fight as I see it, since you end up taking longer between some of the shots.. Besides I'm lazy :P

Two April Mornings · Apr 23, 2006, 04:49 AM // 04:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by prencher

By this you mean strafing I'm guessing? That'd just prolong the fight as I see it, since you end up taking longer between some of the shots.. Besides I'm lazy :P

well this is a pretty delicate and slow moving build

tried it and was ok, good guide i have to say, and somewhat out of teh box

Poison Ivy · Apr 23, 2006, 06:01 AM // 06:01

Another reason to start a Ranger!

Skuld · Apr 23, 2006, 08:15 AM // 08:15

What with 4-5 days till cantha?