Another new player question: lower your HP for farming?

Good morning,

I am new to GW, and I have a question about farming. I have read through several posts in this section, but haven't found an explanation. I have seen many references to getting your HP down in order to farm better. Why? Do you get more/better drops if you are weaker? I see the constant mentions of the 55 HP builds, but I don't really understand why this is optimal. Any help or pointers to threads that would help are appreciated.

Thanks,
James

First off, welcome to Guild Wars


And the point of a 55 is to cast the skill prot spirit, which lowers all damage taken to only dealing 10% of your max health, this meaning everything only deals 5 damage. Then using regen spells/skills, making you regain that 5 health in less than .1 second, so therefore you're nearly invincible and can tank nearly anything that doesn't strip enchantments.

This is even more effective when useing skills like "Shielding Hands" and "Shield of Absorption" which reduce dmg by 5 or more. So you will receive 0 dmg while these are up

Unless you get hit 11 times at the exact same time... or if you're farming the undead outside of Bergen, if the Necrid Horseman curses you with Barbs and you've got him + five rangers plinking you.

Better survivability is achieved through integrating Shielding Hands, Shield of Absorption, or even both into your 55 builds. My personal favorite for running UW duo, but could easily be changed into a mass aggro solo farm build, is this:
[skill]Blessed Aura[/skill][skill]Balthazar's Spirit[/skill][skill]Essence Bond[/skill][skill]Shielding Hands[/skill][skill]Shield of Absorption[/skill][skill]Protective Spirit[/skill][skill]Mystic Regeneration[/skill][skill]Spell Breaker[/skill]

(If soloing, substitute [skill]Spell Breaker[/skill] for [skill]Shield of Judgment[/skill] and relocate stat points accordingly.)

Thank you for making a new player feel welcome. Ok, I think I get it now. The 55 number comes from min-maxing the 10% damage taken vs having 5 levels of health regen.Now it makes sense, thanks for the mental nudge I am running an Elementalist/Necromancer for now, although I am quickly figuring out that I probably should have went Monk instead of Necro for the secondary class. Is there anyplace post-Searing that I can change secondary classes, or am I locked in for the duration?

Thanks,
James

Once you reach the Crystal desert ( and I think you have to ascend ) there are several quests that allow you to change your secondry proff as many times as you like after completion.
However if you also have Factions or Nightfall this can be done much quicker there imho.

Like stated before: as soon as you are 'ascended' in any of the 3 campaigns, you will be able to change your secondary profession as often as you like just by the click of a mouse button more or less.

However, for elementalist primaries the whole debate about 55/105hp is more or less obsolete by now, because some skills introduced with Factions/Nightfall have given them a new farming prototype of their own: the terra tank - who works at full health and requires no more than a couple of earth insignia in your armour, if anything. Of course, you will have to own Factions/Nightfall (and even GWEN) in order to go that way.