Solo 4-Part UW Build

^ but does that mean that I have a highier chance of getting more ectos while killing mindblades one by one?

Im still testing that tactic but need to do more runs to reach any conclusion

I don't know if the "killing one by one to get better drops" effect works on items that are not loot scaled, as killing slowly seems to compensate the loot scaling effect

so I'm asking people who use sliver if they get better drops

the drop rate doesn't change much.

i've been using lava font and they all die at once, i stiil get 5+ ectos every run.

If you kill Mindblades with sliver armor = more white drops, same amout of ectos.
If you kill Mindblades with Lava Font = less white drops, same amount of ectos.
Try it and see for yourself.

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Loot scaling does not affect rare materials and a bunch of other things like tomes. It only affects for the most part, merch fodder that bots used to make gold for sale.

So ecto drop rates should stay the same regardless of how quickly or in what amount you kill an appropriate target. The only reason people get jittery around the notion of drop rate nerfs is because of the huge variable chance involved.

Smites are what, 2% and Aatxes 4%? And since the percentage is not cumulative, you could easily have a chance to get nothing or all ectos in one run, statistically though you're looking at a low average based on the number of enemies killed. But from a single run perspective, the variation is crazy wild!

I gave this a run just now. I used:
[E/Me;OgNDksy8MADpfObYkM+qaD5B]
Using bday cupcakes as speedboost. Worked perfectly.
A small note on the side: I killed all the graspings with 12 in fire magic - I'm assuming you can do it with 15 fire magic too. Just not sure how the graspings will scatter.
Edit: 16 EM and 15 FM works great to kill the graspings.

i can't even get out of the first chamber, i get killed every single round by a nightmare. what to do??

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I finally did it cleared plains! 7 ectos, 1 black dye, 2 UW scrolls

Skills I used are GoS, OF, SA, Phoenix, FDH, Storm Djinns Haste (SDH), BS, Aura of Restoration (AR).

Used heroes to clear the chamber. No cupcakes cuz my fat title character ate it all. SDH is really help when a nightmare pops up and u are running from cows or squids. Very helpful while running through mountain to plains cuz of the fast recharge. Only problem I encountered is a badass spawn where the wurms completely block the entrace.

OK I have done this run a bit lately... now have more than enough ecto for FoW armor

A summary of the posts and my experience seems to be:
Mark of Rodgort and lava font make a mess of the mindblades and terrorwebs (thanks to R Langdon). The fastest 2 skills with good energy management for doing the chaos plains only.
Sliver armor and Ward of stability makes the charged blackness easy if you use the terrorwebs as batteries (keep them alive), this makes the spawning pools a piece of cake.
I use a cupcake and the above skills to do plains, pools and the skellies these guys hate giving me ecto. I only run them if I have 20 min left to play.

Don't use Mark of Rodgort on the smites !! they have smite hex which will kill you. I skip the smites .

FJH, SJH and mending touch make getting through the mountains easier although not absolutely necessary. Mark of Rodgort and Font is very fast and you can just wand any BDR with MoR on it or one font and rodgort and wanding kills 3 mindblades if energy is low. Also MoR and 2x font and a bit of wanding to take the remaining 10 hitpoints is more than enough to kill mindblades at 14 fire. Also more drops as they die 1 at a time. This set up makes energy management and timing in the plains very easy. I also use sliver on the 2nd and 3rd groups (6 and 10 respectively) although I hardly ever kill single groups but rather at least 2 at a time. Dragging BDRs and blades over the chaos plains is fun .

For the charged blackness they can be killed without the ward (if you need a speed boost), just takes good timing and knowledge of their movements. Basically get your OBF cast then aggro the group with MoR (as that is the only time they are bunched) and immediately cast stoneflesh and WAIT. When one starts to come close hit sliver and it will die, let the others come in and cast font (to suck out shock and if it gets through kill them) then hit SF and glyph OBF as needed. Ward makes it alot safer though as sometimes 1 takes too long to come into tough range in a group of 3. Blackness also drop ecto .

I use Searing flames and all ranged attacks on the hero's for the grasps as I found with the PbAOE fire skills some folks are using the idiot hero's would sometimes follow a retreating grasp or run up to use skills on the grasps and help get aggro from an aataxe. Also kills those aataxe that freeze or get stuck on the npc's (not uncommon) as the hero's don't move.

I have never used a self heal and never needed it even with both superior runes and just blessed insignia's. Just don't aggro blackness until your health has naturally regened up to max. You should take zero damage in chaos plains.

All the variants will work and its fun, thanks to all the folks who have posted their builds and modifications.

Yobs

is Sliver necessary to kill blacknesses and clear the pools? (sorry for not testing it myself, been screwing up in plains lately ) My only dmg skills are MoR and Lava Font + a fiery spear

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i soloed all the mindlbades and didn't even get one ecto..
is this normal??

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Havent tried out font yet, do mindblades scatter from font?

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In my experience, Mindblades do not flee from lava font.

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I only clear Chaos planes + those six Terrorwebs that are in the end. It takes ~35 minutes and nets me 3-7 ectos. I use [skill]lava font[/skill] and [skill]Bed of coals[/skill] to kill cause it's faster than MoR and more energy efficient (even without knockdown).

how do you guys deal with the nightmares? you prolly answered it but its killing me here

Dying nightmares will kill you on occasion by dragging aataxe in at the start or in the mountains if they spawn badly. Not alot you can do except know their likely spawn points and try to trigger them when nothing else is about and kill them fast. Always glyph your run skill AND stoneflesh aura as the faster recharge can save your butt in the mountains.

Cupcakes help alot as it is an unremovable speed buff that lets you get away.

Other than that it is just practise and knowing when and where to run to and safe spots to kill them. Aataxe will break off even if you have been rended and have no speed boost if you can make it to safe spots. Also Storm djinn haste can help as it has a lower recharge and cast time.

Watch where they spawn, typically they spawn in similar area's and don't go there with monsters in tow.

Hope it helps, its all really just practise and being aware of your surroundings,

Yobs

I totally ignore nightmares. They can't hurt you if you use cupcake, you don't need stoneflesh in the mountains, just run.

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i know others have suggested this but it makes the run so so so much easier if you use an essence of celerity. not only is it an irremovable speed boost but it recharges all of your skills faster and lets you cast them faster. they only cost 250g and 25 feathers and 25 dust. that's a total of about 700g depending on prices at merchant and you're almost guaranteed to make it to chaos planes, barring a bad spawn at the entrance to the mountains. after the entrance most of the other behemoths are easily avoidable. it also lasts 30 minutes whereas a cupcake only lasts 10. usually i can complete the full chaos planes clear with just one essence.

just my 2 cents.

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A cupcake may last only 10 minutes but you only need it for the run to the planes which takes 4-6 minutes except for blockades. So i bought bought 250 and used bout 60 now and that was 60 runs

if u dont wanna use cupcakes use SDH and FDH, if a nightmare disench u then put one back up and run, dont need to bother to kill it. opt to add some into air and u get 2 skills for GoS

This is possible without GoS right? It will just take a little longer? I don't have eye of the north.

thanks

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