The Big Necro Farming Guide!

The Big Necro Farming Guide!
I. Intro
A. Me talking
B. Template Codes, Equipment, and the like
II. Tyria
A. Ascalon
1. Old Ascalon
B. The Shiverpeak Mountains
1. Anvil Rock
2. Deldrimor Bowl
3. Griffon's Mouth
C. Kryta
1. Scoundrel's Rise
2. North Kryta Province
3. Nebo Terrace
4. Watchtower Coast
D. The Maguuma Jungle
1. The Falls
E. The Crystal Desert
1. Diviner's Ascent
2. The Scar
3. Skyward Reach
4. Vulture Drifts
F. The Ring of Fire Islands
1. Ring of Fire (Mission)
III. Eye of the North
A. The Far Shiverpeaks
1. Ice Cliff Chasms
B. Charr Homelands
1. Dalada Uplands - Sacnoth Valley
2. Cathedral of Flames


hey everyone!

as some of you know, i wrote a 55 necro guide a while ago, and for some reason, the original post disappeared. Instead of reposting the old guide (which MisterB was courteous enough to save for me) i decided to make a new one - one that wasn't limited to 55ing. hopefully, this guide will provide the Necromancer community with plenty of farming builds/spots to farm for a while. (you'll note the lack of pictures in this guide - a lot of people were annoyed by the large loading times on my thread, so pictures are now links to filefront. not to mention that i can be more in-depth with words than i can with pictures.)

before we get to the farming, i'd like to say a few things, especially how to get started on 55 necromancy. 55ing is easy for people who have had a lot of practice with it, but if you're new to it, don't immediately hop into the Fissure of Woe then come to me saying you've "wasted" 10k. First, i'll start with the VERY basics: getting your health down to 55. first, you'll need a set of armor (i know, right?) the LEVEL of the armor ONLY MATTERS IF YOU'RE USING SPIRIT BOND. that part is capitalized for a reason. If you are going to use the builds i use (the ones with Spirit bond) then YOU NEED 15 ARMOR LEVEL ARMOR. you can get this from Shing Jea, Kamadan, or Ascalon. If you are NOT using Spirit bond, then the level of your armor DOES NOT MATTER. please excuse the caps lock, but i just get asked that question WAY too much. as for getting your health down to 55, you'll need a necromancer superior rune on each piece of armor. yes, there are only four different necromancer superior runes. you'll need a
duplicate in there somewhere, usually Blood because i think they are the cheapest at the moment.

now, on to your weaponry. weapons for a 55 necromancer are really a personal preference. the only mandatory thing is the -50hp cesta from the Cities of Ascalon quest. as for your main handed weapon, this is where you can get creative. some people prefer a Totem Axe, because it's easy to get, cheap, and works fine. others, like myself, prefer a spear (i use the Spirit of the Forgotten) to make it easier to pull things that have broken aggro. still some others prefer a wand, for more damage and the ability to pull better without spending a weaponset. it's up to you!

here are the template codes for the builds, as well as their names, which i will use in the guide:

basic 55 Spoil Victor:OANEQsJN+KVPASoFdDqCpPIPISA
Spoil Victor/Insidious Parasite:OANFQsF314jT9AkoF3DqQ9h8QkA
basic 55/SS:OANFQiFH34rT9AkoF3D5B9h8QkA
55 SS UW build:OANFQiFH34rT9AkoFZD5B9h8QkA
55 SV UW build:OANFQsJX04rT9AkoJYDqQ9h8QkA
55 SS FoW build:OANFQiFH34rU9AIhW0N4eQeg+g8A
600 nec for Cathedral:OANCY8zU9wdlWEpYEh+A9QIB
smiter hero for cathedral:OwAT443A5IllMi4Te5TmAEA
SV build for Charr (a big thanks to CE Devilman!):OAVFEJx1Y5F0bwSgK0NYVlYQkQJA
Totem Axe necro build:OAJTYGMnZK0LzImM2g5w34X74AA
Minister Cho's Estate solo:OANFQcFm04rU9AIhWkYwNoKk8gIB
135hp Nahpui Quarter solo:OANEQiJH/MVPoFZTeDuHkHoPIPA
Mount Qinkai Solo:OANFQsJX04rT9AkoFZDqQ9h8QkA
Byzzr Wingmender solo:OAVEIIxmcKpC9HcGoBUEcD+GEGA
SV Reduction farm:OANDQsNPP1j76KJT0GUhyj/B
SS Reduction Farm:OANEQiJH/8UPurrE2weIPIP+HA
Dual UW with a Hero, your build:OANFQiFH34rT9AksSurwBhWeQfA
Dual UW with a Hero, Hero's build:OwUTEyWC5JlERWCiAPo8QkAQAA
Dual FoW with a Hero, Hero's build:OwYTg43A5JlERAFS/TCN5fAQAA

my intro being over, on to part 1 of the guide: Tyria! (and Eye of The North, too!)

Ascalon

Ascalon City is the worn out, burned down city that you make your way into after the infamous Searing. though a bit charred (pun intended, zomglol) the city still retains its beauty in my eyes for one reason: you can farm right outside!

I prefer to use the basic 55 SV or SV/IP build here, but i'll use basic 55 SS sometimes. 55 SV makes killing the bosses easier, and also makes gargoyles/devourers/aloe seeds easy as pie. Anyway, with the 55 SV build, just run around and kill any and all Hulking Stone Elementals you can find. the bosses, Flint Touchstone and Cobble Poundstone, fall easily to SV. you can also kill gargoyles: you just need to watch for Degen from the Shatter 'goyles (who, ironically, don't have Shatter Enchant) and knockdowns from lightning surge, cast by the Flash 'goyles. Devourers are dealt with easily, just kill the warriors first, as they have Skull Crack. If they charge it and get it off on you, you'll probably die. Plague Devourers are also high priority targets, as they can cause some serious degen via Virulence. Aloe Seeds are another foe you'll run into - they're obnoxious popups with Signet of Judgment and orison spam. if one spawns without you seeing it, it'll probably kill you with SoJ, so keep your eye on your radar.
the last enemies you will see are Grawls. Grawl Ulodytes are the annoying healers, they have Healing Hands and Orison spam. you can kill small groups of grawl warriors without monks, but that's about it. drops here include Granite and proph golds, like Hand Axes. difficulty is medium. (P.S. if you haven't gotten enough of Hulking Elementals from this farm, you can also find around twelve more outside of Serenity Temple in Pockmark Flats, easily killable with basic SS/SV.)

The Shiverpeak Mountains

the next run we'll hit is Anvil Rock and its minotaurs, outside of Ice Tooth Caves.

for this run, SV + IP is my favorite build. however, 55/SS and basic SV will work fine. basically, you run out into anvil rock and kill any and all minotaurs you see. eventually, you'll run into some Shiverpeak monsters, who are pretty easy to take down - the monks are a bit annoying. DO NOT attack Frostfire Dryders, as they will Shadow Strike you to hell and back. There's also a Minotaur boss there, but he's simply called "Minotaur." he's level 27 with a yellow aura, and you can kill him easily with SV for a chance at a leet warrior tome. difficulty here is VERY easy, but the drops aren't that great.

the next area i'd like to talk about is Deldrimor Bowl. this place is done with SV/IP build, and i have solo vanquished it in 1 hr 15 minutes. basically, you run around and kill all of the Shiverpeak monsters you see. The Rangers have Distracting Shot, which they can seldom time accurately. your #1 priority should be the monks, as they are the obnoxious healers of the groups. most of the time, the monk won't attack you on aggro. at first, you'll need to kill a warrior or ranger or two. when the monk starts attacking you, hex him with SV/IP, which will kill him rather quickly. run through the area and kill any and all Shiverpeak monsters, including bosses (you might need to die at some point to get rid of all the morale boosts you'll get.) you can also find a small cave with some Snow ettins inside - they're very easy, but you need to look out for the Knockdowns from Devastating Hammer. once you are finished farming in Deldrimor Bowl, you can zone into Griffon's Mouth and kill any and all ettins in there, too. Griffon's Mouth can also be solo vanquished, but the warrior ettin boss may take a while thanks to heal sig spam. drops here are pretty good, not very good skins, but a lot of golds. difficulty is medium.

Vanquish'd.
Map of said vanquish.

Kryta

i'll talk about Kryta as a whole next, as there are a few places you can farm here. since we're going in order, i'll start with Scoundrels' Rise. i like to go in here with SV/IP, only because i will usually zone into Griffon's Mouth afterwards. All i do in this zone is kill all of the Mergoyle Wavebreakers and regular Bog Skales i can fine, then zone into Griffon's and kill some more ettins. this is a very short, relaxing run. drops are decent, but nothing amazing. difficulty is certainly easy.

Map - Scoundrel's Rise.
Griffon's Mouth Vanquish'd.


next is North Kryta Province, but not a regular NKP.... it's DNKP! i have recently rediscovered the awesomeness of farming this place in HM, and killing all of the titans during the Defend North Kryta Province quest. i like basic SS in that zone, but SV would work too. run around and kill any and all titans you see - some things to look out for: Water Born Titans have Maelstrom, which is pretty easy to dodge. Also, Wild Growths cause Poison and turn into three lesser titans - Earth, Wind, and Water - when they die. Earth Born Titans should be saved for last, as they are great energy batteries with their leet stone daggers spam. Rotting Titans have Lingering Curse, so facing them is a bit more tricky. when you see a rotting titan, you need to run up to him, cast SS + IP, then let him use Lingering Curse. IMMEDIATELY after he casts it, put up Prot Spirit again, then Healing Breeze. he'll kill himself on SS+IP, and when he does, RUN AWAY. you won't be ready for the Wild Growth that will spawn. Drops in here are great, as i get a ton of gold armors whenever i actually get the motivation to do a run here. difficulty is easy-medium, as long as you know what you're doing.

Vanquish'd.

our next spot is here by popular demand - Nebo Terrace, outside Bergen Hot Springs. The Rangers + other undead mobs in there are easy with a basic SS build, with IP + Spirit Bond to manage your health while degenerating. kill all of the rangers, the Grasping Ghouls, Skeleton Sorcerers, Necrid Horsemen, and what have you. you probably won't be able to kill the monks without a cover hex, as they use smite hex. if you use Suffering somewhere, you should be able to kill them, however, i don't think it's worth it. drops in here are meh, since it's botted 24/7. some gold dead bows here and there, but dead bows aren't worth anything, as we all know. difficulty is easy-medium.

this next spot is short but sweet, while yielding a few nice drops. the area is Watchtower Coast, leaving from Divinity coast. load up the 55/SV build, but make one important change: bring shielding Hands over Spirit Bond. these guys lay a lot of traps, and, if you're not careful, you'll get spiked hard. kill any Oakhearts you see, as well as those obnoxious Spined Aloes. look out for the tengu with Shatter + interrupts. this run is short and relaxing. while yielding only decent drops, it's mind-numbingly easy.

Some pics of the run - this and the six others after it.

The Maguuma Jungle

like i said, this guide won't be limited to 55ing... so we'll put the 55 armor down for a minute. now it's time to do one of the most profitable farms in Guild Wars: the totem axe run, necro style! load up the Totem Axe farming build and hop in!

for this run, you'll need a zealous long/flatbow of some kind - those are the only specifications that are absolutely required for the run. now, here's what one must do to be a totem axe-ful necro: use Storm Chaser / Natural Stride to run to the Falls, through Ettin's Back, then Reed Bog. once you get to the Falls, start running to the area where Root Behemoths spawn. (if you don't know where this is, search around, or check the Totem Axe farmer page on PvXwiki. there are a ton of maps of this run all over the place.) kill any skale you see by keeping up unguent and attacking while under Kindle, but avoid trolls - their Power Attack will eat your 60AL self alive. once you get to the Root Behemoths, you'll have to deal with Life Pods, which spawn next to the Root Behemoths. if you have a large height advantage, kill the Root Behemoth first, then care about the life pods. if you have a height advantage and kill the behemoth first, SLOWLY proceed forward, towards your drops. take a step, stop, see if a Life pod spawns, then go forward again. when the Life Pods finally do spawn, kill them with Kindle'd Triple shot + punishing Shot + "Finish Him!" spike. if two or three spawn at one time, the procedure changes: autoattack one of the Pods, but have the other one targetted. once you've seen your target heal the Pod you're autoattacking, fire off a Triple + Punishing + Finish spike at your target. if it doesn't die, try again, with the same target switching method, when your attacks recharge. rinse and repeat for any and all Root Behemoths you see. at one point, you might get to a Skale group with a boss in it - namely, Sewp the Darktooth. to kill his group, you need to run in, nuke one skale, run out, until the boss is all that remains. (use Healing Spring to speed up healing between fights.) Sewp is easy alone, as you can interrupt one of his degen skills with no problem. the last thing i have to explain in this run is my least favorite part - Wind Riders. Wind Riders are dealt with using the familiar run in, kill one, run out tactic, using Healing Spring to heal up faster. you CAN NOT reapply Troll Unguent in battle with these guys, nor can you use Triple Shot, as both of those skills will get interrupted with Cry of Frustration. fire off a punishing if you have the energy when fighting them, as its extra damage speeds up fights some. Finish Him is great for them, too. Wind Rider bosses suck - all three of them can own your face, if you're not careful. you NEED to kill bosses first, as they are the biggest pain. for Hoss Rainswell, you need to interrupt his Ice Spikes. you also need to interrupt Ice spikes on Fryn Rageflame, if he spawns. the other boss, Vizz Vexflume, has Empathy. Empathy hurts a lot, so it needs to be interrupted too. Wind Rider bosses are damn hard, and i hate facing them, but they're definitely possible. drops here are nice - plenty of (non-max) golds, full inventories, and materials. difficulty is medium to hard. enjoy your totem axes, fellow necros!

Check out this build page for more info about the run, albeit from a different perspective.

The Crystal Desert

well, dust off your 55 equipment, time to take it for a spin once again! on to my personal favorite farming area, the Crystal Desert!

55 necromancers can farm a good fraction of the Crystal Desert, and i'll start with my favorite farm spot of all time - Diviner's Ascent, HM of course! in Diviner's, i like using basic 55/SS. there are a lot of Sand Drakes, which aren't dangerous at all and die extraordinarily quickly. your biggest worries are Rockshot devourers - they have Distracting Shot, which hurts if it hits an important skill. to protect your precious skills, you need to bait out their interrupts by using Essence Bond, Mending, and Balthazar's Spirit as D-shot food. if you group them up correctly, a Rockshot group will die in 1 SS. watch for traps when picking up drops, make sure you have spirit bond + prot spirit up to catch the huge trapspike. other monsters you'll see here are Scarabs: thanks to the nerfs to chilblains, they're painfully easy. Rock Eater scarabs are a joke - SS eats them. Jade scarabs are only slightly tougher - cover your Protective Spirit and kill them with SS + IP, no problem. the Scarab bosses and the Sand drake bosses can all be taken down, as can the hydras you'll run into further in. you can also kill Sand Wurms, if you can spawn them without dying. they'll die eventually to SS, but their drops are bleh. drops here are nice, with plenty of golds and collectables that stack up fast. difficulty is easy - medium. i still love this place the most, of all the places i farm.

A couple of other places you can farm in the desert are the Scar, Skyward Reach, and a little bit of Vulture Drifts. i prefer SV/IP for these spots. In skyward reach, you can run outside and kill any and all hydras you see. hydras are easy, all you need to do is watch for meteor knockdowns and you're set. while in skyward reach, there are also some groups of enchanted, plus some Desert Griffon groups. Desert Griffons go down like a sack of potatoes, but enchanted are a bit tougher. the rangers have Dazed, so i'd get them first. the melees aren't much of a threat. once you've killed as much as you like in Skyward Reach, you can then zone into the Scar for more Hydra / griffon farming, or you can go into Vulture Drifts to kill the first few groups of Griffons, Sand eles, and minotaurs. Sand eles are a bit tricky because they spam shock, so it's tough to time for. however, with good use of spirit bond, you will have no problem owning face. you can easily zone between these three areas and come bag with an inventory full of golds - i've done it before. the desert has always been a magical farming place for me, and i've loved it ever since the 55/SS elona reach minotaurs back in the day.

Some desert pics - this one, and the ones after.

The Ring of Fire Islands

the final place i'll mention in proph is Ring of Fire, the mission. this mission has been farmed a lot by people hoping for mursaat hammers, and i figured i'd include it, as i farm there from time to time. load up your 55/SS build, and enter the mish. wait for the Dwarven guy to die, in Hard Mode he gets nuked fast. run in and kill the three groups of Jade Armors + Jade Bows - it's pretty straightforward, just look out for KD's from Devastating Hammer. quick warning about this one, though: it's damn hard to do if your 55 armor isn't infused, as you're at max degen constantly, if the damage doesn't kill you. drops are iffy, but you do get the rare mursaat hammer / mursaat hornbow. difficulty is easy/medium, runs are very short and repetitive.

well, that's it for Tyria! it looks like it's on to a quick segment about EotN and a few farm spots i like in there, then we'll move to Cantha.

Eye of the North

Eye of the North seemed to be built with 55s in mind. there are balanced groups to deter us, and it's a bit tougher to solo, but will that stop us? hell, no!

The Far Shiverpeaks

the first spot i'd like to visit is Ice Cliff Chasms. throw on either your 55/ss, Sv/IP, or 55 SV build and go nuts. Ice Cliff Chasms has Snow Wurms, which are so easy to kill it's stupid, as well as mountain Pinesouls and mountain Aloes. these guys drop just like Oakhearts and Spined Aloes of old. you can play around with other groups, but i really only farm the pinesouls + aloes, as everything else is pretty tricky. you can kill select groups of eles with no problem, but that's about it. i've found this to be a fun little area with some alright drops, while also being crazily simple to farm.

Charr Homelands

courtesy of CE Devilman, here's another great spot for EotN farmers: Dalada uplands. load up the SV build for Charr mentioned at the top, and follow his well written instructions in this thread. a big shoutout to him for his profitable find!

if you think soloing just the charr rangers isn't enough for you, we can solo quite a bit more down there. load up a Spoil Victor build, but i need you to add a very strange skill... take out necrosis for Supportive Spirit. you can kill foes under 55 health by wanding them to death, but supportive spirit is required if you want to kill Tumbled Elementals, which are a somewhat big part of the run. follow my mapped path through Dalada Uplands, killing any charr rangers by hiding behind rocks and SVing them to death, as shown in CE Devilman's thread. you'll also run into Molotov Rocktail - kill off the rangers that spawn with him, then nuke him (the rangers have D-Shot and traps, look out.) there are two more groups of Charr rangers before you zone into Sacnoth... you can hide behind yet another rock to kill these guys, too. finally, you can zone into sacnoth Valley to begin the real run. follow my mapped path and kill the one Charr Bladestorm hanging around. avoid any grawl groups with priests - they're tough. if you followed the route correctly, you'll run into a large group of tumbled elementals. maintain PS, HB, and Supportive Spirit here. kill them off with SV, and be sure to autoattack so they don't scatter. once they're dead, kill the few grawl groups and a couple more tumbled elementals. afterwards, you're on to the BURNING FOREST OF DOOM! (rawr.) this place is actually very easy. the only condition you have to contend with is burning, which Spirit Bond can easily outheal. the only thing you need to be careful about are magma blisters - they're not a threat, but be very careful not to cast while they have Mark of Subversion on you - that'll kill you in one cast. just tank those out by precasting enchantments before aggroing. besides Mark of Subversion, they're pushovers. kill 'em with SV. kill any flowstone elementals and ardent spirits you can find with SV as well. finally, you'll get to Borguus Blisterbark's group. these guys are pushovers too. kill them all with SV. after he's dead, you can finish clearing out the forest if you like, for more money. this run is pretty easy, and medium in length.

The route through Dalada Uplands.
The route through Sacnoth Valley.

finally, i'd like to touch on a very..... unusual farm spot for Necro primaries: Cathedral of Flames. everyone knows that 600/smite can run Cathedral, np. but how well does a necro fare? well, let's find out! load up your 600 nec build, and set up Ogden with the smiter build, and get ready for more reading! (as if you haven't done enough already!)

you'll need 600 armor for this run, meaning 15 Armor Level armor, but with NO SUPERIOR RUNES this time. we want to keep our health as high as possible. A Soul Reaping hat + minor rune is nice, but not required. same goes for a vigor rune. as far as weaponry goes, a Totem axe + prot offhand will work perfectly. Ogden needs two superior monk runes - sup divine on his hat, sup smiting somewhere else. now, equipmentwise, you're set to go!

you guys have read enough already, and i've written enough already, so i don't want to rewrite what others have already written time and time again. i highly suggest looking at this thread or this build page for the details of the run. the way your build works is simple: Spell Breaker is there because there is no elite i'd rather have, even at 0 Divine Favor. 5 more seconds of Spell Breaker is better than some crappy offensive elite. also, having Soul Reaping REALLY reduces downtime between groups. i'd be happy to add more detail to this section if it becomes popular, otherwise i'll leave the details to people that undoubtedly have more experience with Cathedral than I.

FINALLY! we're done with the tyrian continent as a whole! yay! now...... on to Cantha! hooray!