Lou's Karambits Farming : A/N or N/A

Ok... before I start I'd like to note that I did this with my Assassin Primary... but only because I don't have a Necromancer in Tahnnakai Temple yet. Its clearly far more effective with a Necro-primary, but works well enough with an Assassin primary too...

[ Build ]

Base Attributes:
Blood Magic ~ 12
Curses ~ 10
Shadow Arts ~ 8

(These can be amped up with runes {and facial scarring} as you like, though it CAN work with just the base values, albeit at high risk.)

Skills:
[skill]Shroud of Distress[/skill][skill]Awaken the Blood[/skill][skill]Mirrored Stance[/skill][skill]Spoil Victor[/skill][skill]Enfeebling Touch[/skill][skill]Insidious Parasite[/skill][skill]Life Siphon[/skill][skill]Dark Escape[/skill]

(Thats the order I keep the skills in. Its worth noting that the skill duration should roughly be decending, with the longest-lasting ones first and the shortest duration toward the end... and the vast majority are hex spells.)

Equipment:
I recommend full Shrouded armour for an Assassin primary. Equivalent for a necro... (the one with lotsa energy). An extra Attunement rune here or there wouldn't go amiss either... and neither would a Major or Superior Vigor rune (I got knocked down to 14 health the first time I got the Karambits when Lou died). Aside from that, extra points in Blood Magic and Curses will help the offensive greatly, while extra points in Shadow Arts helps the defensive.

For weapons, I recommend a Curses or Blood Magic staff (though any attribute will do in a pinch) with as much extra energy as you can manage. I had a pool of 50 with my Curses staff equipped, which is definitely enough. A pair of Daggers is also necessary...
Either the Staff or the Daggers ought to have 20% Enchant extension for best effect, and I'd recommend the daggers (makes stage 3 of the method easier).


[ Method ]

Getting to Lou

From Tahnnakai Temple mission entrance area... run out into Shenzun Tunnels, south through the tunnel, west out of it, south at the corner and out to the area with the bridges. On the other side of the nearest bridge you should see a group of enemies over to your right. They will gradually head over to the west a little if you leave them (to your right)... allowing you to slip past them harmlessly and around to the east... The way is south again, but there are another group of enemies here that WILL notice you.
The trick is to watch where they've laid their traps (they always do, and you don't want to run into it)... and keep just out of aggro range as you follow them to the back, aiming for the slope just to the south. When they've stopped and you're just out of aggro range, activate Shroud of Distress, then hit Dark Escape and sprint up the slope. They should start attacking, but it shouldn't do much damage (especially if you evasively move behind walls so their direct ranged attacks cannot hit). Run straight up and around the corner... between the Am Fah Assassins / Rangers ... and you have two choices here: Run across the bridge to the resurrect shrine (to the West) and then south or run South directly, then around the base to the west... No matter which way you get to this area, stop here and recover your health (assuming you're not already dead, though all is not lost if you got to the shrine) and allow Dark Escape to recharge.
You should arrive at the southern set of stairs leading north into murky water. Head down the first set, then activate Dark Escape... charge down the second set... through the water and up the steps on the other side. Stop in the mid-stage, at the corner where the steps continue up to the shrine. Numerous enemies should have spawned... and Lou, of the Knives should walk over to the bridge and then rope down into the water... after he takes his bow, he is ready to kill. ^_^

Killing Lou
#1. Switch to the daggers if they're enchant 20%. This is important for stage 3. If the staff is the enchant one then keep that for now.
#2. Activate Shroud of Distress and Awaken the Blood.
#3. With the daggers equipped (important), hex Lou with Mirrored Stance. Lou's stance is his elite: Flashing Blades, which gives 50% block chance while attacking (very nice comboed with your around 50% evade chance below 50 health... and trust me... you will be). Since it requires daggers to work though... well... you get the point.
#4. After Mirrored Stance is set, Lou should charge you. Immediately drop Spoil Victor on him... then space to attack.
#5. Follow with Enfeebling Touch and Insidious Parasite just before he reaches you. (If you run out of energy, switch back to the staff quickly, use the hex and switch back).
#6. After a few seconds of attacking (you're missing most likely, but it doesn't matter as the hexes do their damage) Lou's health should have dropped considerably (as should yours have)... so drop Life Siphon on him. Use the staff if energy is too low (and it might well be).
#7. Reapply Enfeebling Stance and Insidious Parasite when the latter recharges, using the staff. It may help to drop Spoil Victor on him again, though this shouldn't run out too quickly and is less useful toward the end. If things become seriously drastic then use Dark Escape as well and keep the staff out.

Lou SHOULD die to leave you on rather low health. I managed to kill him the first time leaving me with just 14 health... though thats because Mirrored Stance didn't trigger properly (I didn't pull the daggers out). With it done properly I managed it with 150 health left over... from about 500 normal.

If he doesn't drop his Karambits obviously... go back to Tahnnakai Temple and try again. I've got two so far and I've only been doing it a short while (in amongst other things).

{Seems nobody likes me. 148 views and no replies... and onto the second page too. Ah well... can't blame me for trying. I've been using variations on this build for farming in small teams ever since.}

While i dont need the daggers i like how original the build is set up, nice work haven't ever really seen a N/A farm build