Profession: Elementalist/Mesmer
Type: Solo farming, Underworld (Grasping Darknesses, Smite Crawlers)
Category: Terra Tank/Geomancer
Skills:
Storm Djinn's Haste
Sympathetic Visage
Sandstorm {E}
Earthquake
Aftershock
Stoneflesh Aura
Mantra of Earth
Stone Striker
Attributes:
Earth Magic: 16 (12 + 3 + 1)
Illusion Magic: ~7
Air Magic: ~5
Split the remaining points between Energy Storage and Inspiration Magic (or extra levels of Illusion Magic and Air Magic).
Note that even at 0 levels of Inspiration Magic, Mantra of Earth will provide enough damage reduction (in concert with Stoneflesh Aura) so that you will never take damage from the Smite Crawlers or Grasping Darknesses. So, it's mostly a question of getting enough duration on the stance so that you're comfortable with the re-casts.
Equipment:
You have some freedom here; essentially, the only requirements are to bring some sort of Earth Magic wand or staff for the Dying Nightmares and to wear some kind of 60 AL armor. However, you will do better with a customized, maximum-damage Earth Magic staff fitted with a Staff Wrapping of Enchantment, ideally +20%. You don't really want anything that halves casting times, as this tends to throw off the timing of the build. Quicker recharges are fine, though. Also, a damage +15% inscription (while enchanted, while health is above 50%, or energy -5) can be useful. Finally, since you're running Mantra of Earth, Geomancer's armor makes sense, but it's not necessary.
Summary:
This build works in the same manner as Dahnel's Smite-running Rt/Me. However, it takes advantage of Stoneflesh Aura and the new scatter AI to tank and kill greater numbers of Grasping Darknesses and essentially unlimited Smite Crawlers.
Video:
One complete run
A bit of explanation here. I wanted to post a video of Turbobusa running the build, since it's essentially his idea and he has more familiarity with it than I. However, due to various technical difficulties, we couldn't get that to happen. So, there are three of us shown in the video: Clad de Midgard is running the build, I'm recording events, and Destiny Owner (aka Turbobusa) is advising Clad and translating for the two of us. It might be a bit confusing at first, but you should look at the target bar, not the skill bar, to see which skills are being activated.
Walkthrough:
Upon entering the Underworld, cast Storm Djinn's Haste and speak to the Lost Soul. Take the Clearing the Chamber quest, which will spawn three groups of Grasping Darknesses. While doing this, you may incidentally aggro one of the patrolling Aatxes or a Dying Nightmare. So, don't dawdle here and be sure to run straight away if you pull unwanted aggro.
Next, setup near the base of the western stairs (the ones to your left as you initially spawn) out of aggro range of the Aatxes. You want to wait here for two groups of Grasping Darknesses to cluster at the top of the stairs. Ideally, you'll be able to aggro and fight both groups at once, but don't overextend to do so.
As they draw close, cast Mantra of Earth, Stone Striker, Stoneflesh Aura, Sympathetic Visage, and Storm Djinn's Haste. If you should accidentally aggro something, either because you got too close or because a Dying Nightmare popped up, stop what you are doing, turn 180 degrees around, and run. See the section labeled When Things Go Wrong for ideas on what to do next.
Assuming that you got the five skills off unharassed, now is the time to aggro the Darknesses. Advance up the stairs, and when they start charging in, turn tail and run back down. Keep going until you're standing in the middle of the platform where you began.
By this point, the Aatxes should have broken off. However, you should take a moment to verify that this is indeed the case -- if not, run another five steps or so. This is critical since nothing will get you killed quicker than starting into a battle before you've lost the Aatxes.
Next, let the Sympathetic Visage work for several seconds. You may want to take a few steps back in order to make the Darknesses clump up a bit more; this tends to make the energy draining more efficient.
After two or three seconds, start into your damage cycle. Hit Sandstorm and immediately follow that with Earthquake and Aftershock. This will knock the Darknesses down to about 15% health. Any that remain in the Sandstorm to attack you will die quickly, but most will flee at this point . This is usually a good time to renew Stoneflesh Aura. Then, bait the remainders in with some staff attacks and finish them off with additional Aftershocks.
Pick up the drops and then move to the northern staircase, being careful not to aggro anything yet. You're waiting for any remaining Grasping Darkness groups (there will be two if you only managed to aggro one in the first fight) to move close enough to aggro them all at once.
When the time is ripe, hit Mantra of Earth, Stone Striker, Stoneflesh Aura, Sympathetic Visage, and Storm Djinn's Haste, as before. Then aggro the Darknesses and run back down the stairs. Check for trailing Aatxes or Nightmares and then fight the battle in the same manner as the previous one.
With the three groups of Grasping Darknesses out of the way, you will be free to run to the primary farming area. Look eastward over the chasm for your cue to start the run. There will be a group of Grasping Darknesses (and perhaps a Dying Nightmare) patrolling there in a triangle. Generally, you want to avoid this group; so, wait until they just start moving to the south. Then, you'll need to cast Storm Djinn's Haste and sprint up the northern stairs past the Aatxes that wait there. You might also want to put up Mantra of Earth and Stone Striker, perhaps even Stoneflesh Aura, before you begin. This will save you in the event that you make a small mistake or two. Once you get comfortable with the run, you'll find it unnecessary, however.
Also, I should mention a couple of hints on running that have been useful to me. Usually, you don't want to stay next to a wall while you are running because you limit your ability to manuever when you do that. So, unless you're trying to avoid aggro'ing a group or are dodging a creature, stay a few steps away at all times. Generally, you won't need to use any fancy manuevering -- just run towards open ground. However, if space is getting tight, you may need to use some evasive tactics. You can get a good idea about where the creatures are going to go by simply looking at the direction they are facing -- think Pacman and the ghosts' eyes. Beyond that, they don't tend to make any sudden adjustments as they are closing. This means you can almost always use the cut-back move against them. Basically, you cut in front of an on-rushing creature and sprint past while it's "momentum" carries it through (I tried diagramming this, but Guru doesn't seem to like my ASCII art).
In any event, as you pass the Aatxes take a sharp right and keep running until you break away from them. There is a safe spot in this passage just before the door, which should now be open. Wait until the patrol of Darknesses (and perhaps a Dying Nightmare) moves off sufficiently. If you've timed it well, you should be able to continue straight through. Then, run through the door and stay close to the wall on your left. Follow it around and run through the two groups of Aatxes you'll find in the area. You should shortly see a set of stairs; sprint up these and settle down somewhere once you've lost your pursuers.
You're now in the Ice Wastes, populated by Smite Crawlers, Coldfire Nights, and the occasional Dying Nightmare. Smite Crawlers drop the ectoplasms we're looking for; so, you'll want to methodically aggro and kill all of these. You should avoid the Coldfire Nights, as they are tricky to kill and typically drop nothing of great value.
To deal with the Dying Nightmares, you'll have to rely on your trusty staff. You only have about three seconds (the amount of time it takes to cast Rend Enchantments) to finish them off. So, to reduce the amount of time it takes to kill them, hit 'C' and then tab once for each additional Smite Crawler you have aggro'ed. With things set up this way, if you come across a Dying Nightmare all you have to do is press tab then spacebar. With the +15% damage inscription, you should be able to kill a Dying Nightmare with two shots just about every time.
To take out the Smite Crawlers, start by casting Mantra of Earth, Stone Striker, and Stoneflesh Aura. Aggro the group(s) and pull them along a convenient wall or cliff so that they group into one tight ball right up against the obstruction. As you are doing this, some will attempt to flank you; don't let them. Next, cast Sympathetic Visage and circle around the group so that you are standing between them and open ground. This should delay any would be runners for a critical moment.
Next, lay down your damage spells -- Sandstorm, Earthquake, and Aftershock -- as quickly as possible. The Smite Crawlers tend to be more skittish than the Darknesses, but the positioning precautions outlined in the last paragraph should ensure that most battles end at the finale of Aftershock. If any of the Smite Crawlers do clear the adjacency before Earthquake hits, they will live out the spike. Don't worry too much about these; assuming there are no more than three, you'll only experience a minor delay. Pick up the drops while waiting for your damage spells to recharge and for the Crawlers to group up again. If their health is below about 1/3 you can finish them with an Earthquake/Aftershock combination. Above that, you're better off starting over with Sandstorm, then Earthquake. Follow with Aftershock, if necessary (note that you may need to move a bit to land it if the Smite Crawlers have scattered by this point).
There's essentially no limit to the number of Smite Crawlers you can aggro and kill. However, it's sometimes self-defeating to try to aggro every single Smite Crawler in an area, as groups will break off once you cross certain thresholds. In general, though, you should be able to clear the Ice Wastes in no more than six battles.
When Things Go Wrong:
The initial chamber is swarming with Dying Nightmares.The way to deal with this depends on where the Nightmares are and what they are doing:Sort of hanging out on a staircase.You can usually pick these guys off with a few staff attacks, just make sure you don't aggro anything else. Patrolling along with an AatxeWait for it to clear off a bit before aggro'ing any Grasping Darknesses or running to the Ice Wastes. Standing right in the path where I need to runWait about twenty seconds, it might come up to the stairs where you can pick it off. If not, then make sure any patrolling Aatxes have moved off and aggro the Nightmare and the nearby Aatxes. Then, without Storm Djinn's Haste, run back down the stairs. Keep going until the Aatxes drop off, then staff the Nightmare to death. Popping up while I'm running through some AatxesKeep running, perhaps you will get far enough away quickly enough that the Rend Enchantments doesn't land. At the very least, you want to break any pursuing Aatxes. Once to the safe spot near the door, you can either kill the Dying Nightmare or simply re-cast Storm Djinn's Haste and continue through. A Bladed Aatxe followed me all the way to the spawn point.If you've got no other creatures following you, keep running around -- just make sure you don't trap yourself in a corner. As long as you keep Storm Djinn's haste up, the Aatxe shouldn't be able to hit you. Eventually, it will lose interest and break off. If you get Storm Djinn's Haste rended by a Dying Nightmare, re-cast it as soon as possible.
If there are Grasping Darknesses following you as well, try running around for a few seconds as above. If you can't break the Aatxe or for some reason your health is getting low, e.g. you couldn't get Stoneflesh Aura up in time, run to Benson and try to hide behind him. At some point, you're going to have to fight the Darknesses since they generally won't break. Just try to do it somewhere relatively safe. Assuming you're able to kill the Darknesses at this point, take a moment to heal up, then aggro the Aatxe and try once more to shed it.The Grasping Darknesses interrupted one of my spells.This will happen if you don't wait a few seconds before casting Sandstorm, but also occurs frequently when the Darknesses return after scattering. You need to weigh your options here. Basically, you can do one of three things:Go for the killIf you're significantly ahead of the Darknesses in health, you may as well just try to finish them. Even if you're reduced to just your staff and your armor, you'll be doing about as much damage as you're taking. One good Aftershock can usually guarantee victory, assuming that you're not dealing with more than three Darknesses. Raise your defensesThe Darknesses don't do a lot of damage; so, if you can just get Stoneflesh Aura up, you'll be fine until your spell comes around again. Even the Stone Striker + Mantra of Earth combination alone should get you through some tight spots. Also, with these two in effect, you'll be able to stay ahead of the Darknesses' energy draining. Before trying Stoneflesh Aura, however, I would give Sympathetic Visage a try, assuming it's recharged. It only takes one second to activate, so your chances are a bit better, and if you get it up, all your other spells for the next 15 seconds should be safe as well.
So, I'd recommend running again. Start moving, then hit Storm Djinn's Haste after the Rend Enchantments falls. You should quickly pull clear of any Smite Crawlers following you. Next, run to a safe spot and heal up. When your skills have recharged and your health is at a manageable level, throw up your enchantments and head back in. Work your way back to the Dying Nightmare and attack it, making sure that you get in the first shot in before it can start casting Rend Enchantments.I've got a group of Smite Crawlers aggro'ed and I'm seemingly in the clear moving to my next safe spot, but the Smite Crawlers aren't following and I'm still getting hit left and right.You've stumbled upon one of the more annoying "features" of Guild Wars. This tends to happen when you've got a lot of creatures aggro'ed and you're running through a narrow opening between them. It might have something to do with the quality of your connection, but I can't say for sure. In any event, you want to hit a skill, any skill, at this point. This should warp you back to the place where you actually are as far as the game engine is concerned -- right in the middle of a group of Smite Crawlers. Now that you can see your predicament clearly, try to pick out a path out of the mess -- backwards is usually a good place to start.I aggro'ed a Coldfire Night.If the Coldfire Nights aggro'ed due to a Dying Nightmare popping up, you should have about a two-step lead on them -- just enough to make your getaway. So, try to run off them, using Storm Djinn's Haste where possible.
If you simply ran into them, they'll usually be able to land enough Shard Storms to keep up with you. If you have Smite Crawlers aggro'ed, you might want to wait for the Maelstroms to fall, then simply fight the Smite Crawlers like you normally would. There's a fair chance you're going to die, but your chances of being able to run away aren't great either and at least you'll get a couple of extra drops.
However, if you have significant levels of Inspiration Magic, you should be able to hold out long enough to crawl your way to freedom. Mind the Maelstroms, and don't get close to the Coldfire Nights as this will trigger them to use Frozen Burst, which can hurt quite a bit. Also, it ought to be possible to dodge the Shard Storms, but this is tricky to do while your back is turned, although you can sometimes use a piece of landscape to provide cover.Notes and Concerns:
An average run takes 15-20 minutes, and, over the long term, you will pull in about two ectoplasms every three runs. Considering merchant drops, the 1k Underworld entrance fee, and the current sales price for ectoplasms (8k as of Jan. '07), you should reliably be able to clear 20k per hour.
In general, this build performs incrementally better than the Rt/Me build it was patterned after. This is because scattering is less of an issue, so it's possible to aggro several groups at once. Because of this, run times are typically a couple of minutes faster. On the other hand, the Rt/Me build has significantly less to fear from Dying Nightmares, as it doesn't rely as heavily on enchantments.
Variants:
This is the approach I take to the run. It turns out that you can achieve adequate defense using only Stoneflesh Aura and some armor buffs. Also, being that the battles are quite short, you won't generally need all the energy that Mantra of Earth provides. So, you can pull the Stone Striker + Mantra of Earth combination and replace it with Earth Attunement + an optional skill.
This leaves a skill slot open to improve the build's performance against the Grasping Darknesses. I've played around with this quite a bit. Theoretically, one more AoE damage skill will finish them off in a single salvo. However, after trying Eruption, Bed of Coals, and a couple of other things, I found that quick success was still a hit-and-miss proposition. So, I went another route and added Glyph of Concentration, the idea being that it gives you more flexibility for dealing with interrupts.
Skills:
Storm Djinn's Haste
Glyph of Concentration
Sympathetic Visage
Sandstorm {E}
Earthquake
Aftershock
Stoneflesh Aura
Earth Attunement
Attributes:
Earth Magic: 16 (12 + 3 + 1)
Energy Storage: 8
Air Magic: 8
Illusion Magic: 7
Equipment:
You'll need a staff similar to the one outlined for the previous build. However, it should additionally have a Defensive Staff Head +5 on it. Also, you'll want to have an alternate weapon set which provides an energy boost, e.g., a wand and offhand combination, one or both of them having the +15 energy/-1 energy regeneration upgrade. This is useful when, usually due to some mistake, the Grasping Darknesses start to get the better of you and begin landing "Fear Me!" frequently. The idea is to switch to the energy set to cast spells then back to the staff to work up energy and fight.
Your armor has to provide a total of 70 AL -- 60 AL base plus a 10 AL bonus -- one way or another. Options include Tempest or Battlemage armor from Factions or something fitted with Blessed or Stalwart insignia. You might also juggle the attributes to get 9 levels of Air Magic and use Prismatic insignia. For runes, besides the obligatory Superior Earth Magic and Major/Superior Vigor, use whatever makes the most sense to you.
The key in all this is to attain a total armor level of 73 or more. This guarantees that you will not take any damage from the Smite Crawlers.
Video:
One complete run
Walkthrough:
In general, this build works the same as the one listed above. the main difference being the skills that you pre-cast before a battle. When fighting the Grasping Darknesses pre-cast Earth Attunement, Stoneflesh Aura, Storm Djinn's Haste, and then Glyph of Concentration. Wait on Sympathetic Visage until you've set the battle up. Then, use Sandstorm, Earthquake, and Aftershock, as above. While the Darknesses are scattering, however, throw up another Glyph of Concentration. This will cover the coming Aftershock and Stoneflesh Aura, if you should need it.
For Smite Crawlers, fight them as outlined above, just use Earth Attunement in place of Stone Striker + Mantra of Earth.
Credit:
This build evolved over the last couple of months, essentially since the release of Nightfall. I had been playing around with builds that countered the scattering AI when Dead_Metal_Zero wrote the first in-depth post about the Terra Tank platform. Hyprodimus Prime then adapted this for general Underworld usage. Finally, Turbobusa took that build and converted it along the lines of Dahnel's (and others') Smite-running model to create the build you see here.
At about the same time, I was getting re-interested in Elementalist Underworld builds, thanks to the prodding of Ultima Destructo, and had hit upon a very similar idea (the one listed under Variants). After talking briefly with those mentioned above, I went ahead with this post, which I hope serves everyone's interests adequately.
Finally, Koning deserves credit as the initial poster.
really nice.
