Holy Whirling Axes Batman! How to get rich using W/Mo skills in Pongmei Valley

I am a long time Guild Wars player and this is my first post of a build I've been using since factions came out. My Guild Wars buddies say I shouldn't post this since most of us have gotten rich using this farming strategy but since I already have enough money I feel compelled to pass it on to everyone else. This build is a “cookie-cutter” build of the well known Bonetti’s Defense/Cyclone Axe/Vigorous Spirit/Live Vicariously W/Mo Axe farmer that is posted on GuildWiki. All I did was remove Gladiators Defense and replace it with Triple Chop (yes, it didn't require a lot of smarts but the build is still awesome). The advantage of this build is the ability to get decent drops on a quick run (each run takes between 2-3 minutes). This build is more profitable than troll farming, period. Anyone who says otherwise is missing some chromosomes.

The idea of this build it to constantly spam Cyclone Axe and Triple Chop while maintaining Judges Insight for the +20% armor penetration. Your attacks will inflict a lot of damage (I've done as much as 114 damage using triple chop on a Stone Scale Kirin)

GEAR


Armor:
Any high end armor will do. I use Gladiator’s Armor for energy w/ +41 hp and -3 damage absorption rune, and Rune of Minor Strength (+1 to Strength). My boots are Knights boots for the extra damage absorption.

Shield:
You have two choices. You will have high strength and you will be enchanted and hexed the entire time so choose either a strength req. shield with bonuses while you are enchanted or hexed. I prefer the best possible protection so I choose the one with additional protection while you are hexed (+60 hp -3 damage while hexed). I use the Emboldened Crimson Carapace Shield from Collector Hagnon Warblade who is outside Camp Rankor, all he wants for it are five Frosted Griffin Wings which can be farmed easily outside Camp Rankor. For those of you without Guild Wars Prophecies you can find a shield with the same stats from Collector Artor Bobani Kiroz in the Altrumm Ruins, all he wants for it are 5 Warden Horns.

Axe:
Choose a 6-28 damage axe with 15% bonus while enchanted or 20% bonus while hexed. You can also choose a 15%^50% health axe. I use the +20% bonus while hexed cleaver obtained from collector Buk Dirayne in Saint Anjeka’s Shrine, he wants three Skull Jujus for it. Skull Jujus can be hard to get. I farm them with my 55 necro from Pain Hungry/Skill Hungry Gaki. They can be found in the Eternal Grove (explorable) or just outside the Southwest exit of the Brauer Academy. Customize it for an additional 20% damage bonus and you have a pretty badass farming weapon. Upgrades are not necessary, choose whatever you think is best.

Helm:
I use a helm with Axe Mastery bonus and a Rune of Minor Axe Mastery for a total of +2 bonus to Axe Mastery.



ATTRIBUTE POINTS

Axe Mastery: 14
Strength: 9
Smiting: 5
Healing: 9


SKILLS

Cyclone Axe
Bonetti’s Defense
Triple Chop
Vigorous Spirit
Judges Insight
Optional (I choose Endure Pain, can also use Healing breeze or Doylak Signet)
Live Vicariously
Mending

Note:
I have also done this using Strength of Honor Instead of Mending to really maximize my damage. If you do this, I highly recommend healing breeze for the optional skill). A few of my buddies who use this build prefer healing breeze or Doylak Signet. I find Doylak Signet to be a poor choice since my armor absorbs -9 damage already and the additional armor doesn't protect you from barbs.



ENEMIES

Stone Scale Kirin (Necro):
They use…
Tainted Flesh
Animate Vampiric Horror
Barbs
Defile Flesh

As soon as you get near them they will put Barbs on you and will keep casting Barbs for the duration of the fight. Now all attacks (even if they deal 0 damage) will deal 10 damage. Defile Flesh will lower the healing you get from LV and VS, and Tainted flesh will keep you diseased and negate the healing from Mending so that you will have one arrow of health degeneration. Don’t panic, the healing from your attacks will keep you alive. They will summon Vampiric Horrors which will be dispatched easily by the holy damage granted by Judges Insight.

Undergrowth (Warrior):
They use…
Primal Rage
Bulls strike
Swift Chop

Bulls strike can be a pain when you’re aggroing but shouldn’t be too much of a problem provided you keep your distance (which is easy since they can’t run faster than you). Swift Chop will lower you HP by 20%. Again, don’t panic, you will be fine.




FINALLY, THE FARMING


Leave Maatu Keep, put on Mending and wait for your energy to recharge to full and put on Live Vicariously. At this point you should have no energy regeneration and 15 – 21 energy depending on whether or not you have Gladiators armor. Head south and Aggro as many Stone Scale Kirin and Undergrowth as you can. As soon as you have aggroed the skill order is…

Judges Insight
Cyclone Axe
Bonetti’s Defense
Triple Chop
Bonetti’s Defense
Cyclone Axe
Bonetti’s Defense
Judges Insight


Cyclone axe has a recharge time of 4 sec while Triple Chop has a recharge time of 10 sec so you should be able to get off two Cyclone Axes per one Triple Chop before renewing Judges Insight (which lasts 12 seconds). You want to keep up Judges Insight the entire time so the sequence is usually two Cyclone Axes and one Triple Chop (though not necessarily in that order) before renewing Judges Insight. Your axe attacks will recharge Bonetti’s Defense so stay in Bonetti’s defense between axe attacks for protection and energy regeneration. If your health gets low, use Endure Pain or Healing Breeze (whatever you choose for the optional slot) to keep yourself alive. Stone Scale Kirin will raise Vampiric Horrors, they are easily dispatched due to the holy damage granted by Judges Insight.

Some Notes:

Make CERTAIN you are in Bonetti’s Defense before casting Judges Insight, Bonetti’s Defense won’t end until the spell has finished casting so it protects you for the 2 seconds required to renew Judges Insight.

You should only be in Bonetti’s Defense for a few seconds before firing off another axe attack so attribute points in tactics isn’t necessary.

It is CRITICAL you maintain Vigourous Spirit. Don’t forget with Defile Flesh on you your healing is reduced. 90% of the time I’ve died has been because I didn’t notice Vigorous Spirit had expired. Make sure to cast VS, fire off an axe attack and immediately go into Bonetti’s Defense.

To use Cyclone Axe you don’t have to target a foe. You could use Cyclone Axe with no enemy near you. Triple Chop is another story. You MUST target a foe to use Triple Chop. When you’re surrounded by Kirin and Undergrowth select the closest one by pressing the C key. Sometimes, even though you’ve pressed the C key, Triple Chop may still not attack. If this happens, don’t panic, use Cyclone Axe to heal/recharge Bonetti’s and then press the TAB key to target the next foe and try Triple Chop again.


THE LOOT

You will get Amber Wands/Staffs/Bows/etc, Bramble Bows, Marble Hammers, Bone Staffs, Gothic Axes/Swords, the occasional Ruby or Sapphire, Kurzick Keys, Granite Slabs, Plant Fibers, Glittering Dust, Spiritwood Planks, Dyes, Wood Planks, Dragon Roots, Stone Horns, and, of course, gold. These items can be sold or salvaged for upgrades (I’ve gotten a +30 hp axe grip, a 20/20 sundering sword upgrade, and a +30 hp bow grip). You will accumulate keys at a moderate rate (2 or 3 per hour), I use them to do chest runs to break up the monotony of farming). You will not get any Runes from these enemies. Purple and Gold items are uncommon, I often get one purple or gold every 3 – 5 runs. You can expect to make 8k -10k per hour, this is a conservative estimate since it doesn’t include how I make money with Glittering Dust and Plant Fibers (see below) or the money I make from keys and item upgrades.

Now for some fun with economics… I save Plant Fibers and Glittering Dust to make them into Damask. Dragon Roots can (and should) be salvaged into Plant Fibers. As of the writing of this guide you can sell Plant Fibers to the Material trader for 9 gold each or to other player for 12 gold each. However, I make rolls of Damask and sell them to the Rare Material Trader. 500 Glittering Dust, 500 Plant Fibers, and 20k will make 100 rolls of Damask. As of the writing of this one roll of Damask can be sold to the Rare Material Trader for 360 gold. So your 500 Glittering Dush/500 Plant Fiber/20k investment will get you 36k (16k profit). If you sold the 500 Glittering Dust and 500 Plant Fibers for 7 and 12 gold respectively (the market rate as of the writing of this guide) to other players you would get (500*7) + (500*12) gold or 9.5k. So not only would you get less money selling it this way, you’d also have to waste your time spamming “WTS glittering dust and plant fibers”. Time is money; you’re better off maximizing your profits by making Damask, selling it to the Rare Material Trader, and then farming some more.

Video coming soon (as soon as I get Vdub up and going)

Here is the video as promised.

http://rapidshare.de/files/31010966/...ngmei.avi.html

In this run I got a sapphire. The codec is XviD.


CAUTIONARY NOTE:

As I mentioned below, anti-farming can kick in quickly using this build. You will not be able to do this for hour after hour and continue to get the same drops. I notice that after about 20 runs or so (about 1 hour ) that my drops diminsh. I correct this by doing Kurzick Key runs or making Damask from one of the Material Crafters and trading it to the Rare Material Trader or by running mision for friends (basically you have to do something else for about 20-30 minutes.




UPDATE

Thanks to some of the users on this forum there is another way to do this run even faster. The build requires a little more dexterity and skimps slightly on healing, but it can be done. The modified build is similar to the originally posted build but with these changes.

Helm:
Use a helm of Axe Mastery with a superior Rune of Axe Mastery (+4 Axe Mastery total bonus)

Attribute points:
Axe Mastery: 13
Strength: 9
Smiting Prayers: 11
Healing: 8

Skills:

Cyclone Axe
Bonetti's Defense
Triple Chop(E)
Vigorous Spirit
Smite Hex (was Judges Insight)
Zealots Fire (was optional)
Live Vicariously
Mending

Cast Mending, regen energy, cast Live Vicariously. Once you've aggroed cast Zealots fire, Cyclone Axe, Bonetti's Defense, Triple Chop, and every now and then spam VS and Smite Hex. Smite Hex will do 65 damage + 23 damage (87 total). Every now and then spam VS which will do 23 damage thanks to Zealots Fire. Don't spam VS or Smite Hex more than every 4 seconds to avoid deaggroing due to Area of Effect. I would like to thank...

floppinghog for his suggestion of Smite Hex
King's Spectre and majoho for suggesting Zealots Fire

Thanks to all your help I think it's better than before.

And of course, here's a video of me doing the run using the new skills, the codec is XviD.

http://rapidshare.de/files/31275155/...ngmei.avi.html