Pre-Searing character guide!

Mark of Pain is actually the one doing 16 damage to all adjacent foes when you take physical damage, you're talking about faintheardentness, which indeed, sucks as a Ranger or Warrior.

Also, I've heard from several people both gold and max damage items have been seen in pre-searing, though, I don't believe them untill I see them with my own eyes.

Hmm, what are your attributes?

Ah yes, and I do bring a monk along with me. Also, I have an armour 8 no req tall shield; is that better than the tall shiled with +10 armour vs char?

With +5 armour on my rinblade and +10 on my shield, I'll have +15 armour, but even though, I think I actually survive better with a monk and he shield i'm currently using.

At lvl 15 my stats are 9 Axe Mastery, 8 Tactics, 4 Strength.

And about the shield.. How can a 14 Armor, +15 Health shield be worse then and 8 Armor shield? :/ Believe me, it's better.

Wewt, just hit level 10.

I just went along with a friend to help him with the "Accross the Wall" quest, but he was a low level, and he kept dying. We got to the place where ben was supposed to be, but he'd died. Unfortunately, my friend aggro'd a group, and he died - I then solo'd the group (yay).

I think it was two blade storms, two chaots.

Here's a screenie. W00T!



As for previous runs with my healer friend, we got all of the charr several times.

Nice islyan, lvl 10, well you can start solo'ing soon, I started at lvl 12 myself. The group you solo'd wasn't a strong group, though, it's still really nice Grats! You're getting the hang of this.

Don't use Frenzy though, since I see you've got it equiped Also, Troll Ungeunt is rather useless, stick to Healing Signet.

Feel free to ask more, and good luck!

I tried this out with a monk. Leveled up to 14 on the charr without much trouble, mainly using smiting, and a level 0 fire rain helped abit to get kills (still 50-70 dmg over 10 seconds), while being well protected with heal breeze/orizon/shielding hands etc. After level 14 you get 0 xp for everything except the charr bosses, which are 64 xp a piece, I wasnt gonna grind over 8k xp on bosses..lol, so I decided to do the quests at that time. As a point of interest to others maybe, the total sum of experience you can gain through questing in pre-sear is 9550xp. (unless Iv'e missed a quest, but I dont think so)

This pushed me over to 15 almost exactly. This is probably as high you can get in pre-sear without doing 99999999 thousand boss runs (ok, maybe its just about 36 runs or so, but I doubt anyone will remain sane after that), or leveling up the monsters ofcourse..but that doesnt seem to work very well anymore since the charr have a built in "return to base mode" as soon as they go to far away from home.

Actually, I'm 77% to level 16 right now, with only doing the first quest, I don't have a secondary proffesion yet either. I get 1% xp each run, so yeah, it does take long, but I'm too far to quit now I've played 100 hours in total on this character, probably 50 of them were actually Charr hunting. I did the calculation twice, and so did my friend, and you should get to level 17 by just doing quests when you reach level 16, www.guildwiki.org's skill listing might be wrong though, so we'll see.

And also, leveling up enemies is impossible, it takes far longer then anyone expects. You'd be dying for 5 hours straight or so just to get one group to high level, in other words, far from worth it.

do the charr get exp from killing minions?

islyan it looks like you're used to Diablo style game. That Tip underneath your experience bar keeps poping up telling you not to click repeadetly on enemies :P

On topic, nice guide Maxie but I would probably lose my mind if I tried it. Only character I spent more time in presear was my warrior and I was out by the time I hit level10. Other 3 characters I was out as soon I as I picked out the secondary profession :P
PS: Your avatar is just too funny...

Level 12 eh? Right, time for a few more charr runs. I can solo axe fiends and blade storms, no problemo. I can also solo shamans if they're there too.

A tip to other warriors/melee characters: If you see a shaman or a chaot in the group you're targeting, aggro them, then IMMEDIATELY use healing signet. This cancels out the bane signet and energy burn that they will have used on you, and you won't get knocked down.

Also, I think I've prioritised the charr in order of what to kill first at the top:

Stalker
Ashen Claw
Shaman (?)
Chaots [If you have a monk with you]
Axe Fiends/Storms

Oh yeah, and look out for the flame bosses' lava font, it does do a decent amount of dmg if you're not paying attention.

Hmn I started a new Ranger until the next chapter comes out and I found four silver dyes on my travels in pre so now my Ranger has a silver collectors armor.

She's lvl7 and the pet is lvl 7 as well. I've been farming ice elementals and aloeseeds (lvl 3) for a while so I can fight the charr.

I've fought charr before but only pre-patches. =P So I'm not sure what to do with a wanger to make her solo when she's ready. or when I'm with someone. =P I just have all the ranger skills at the moment.

P.S. I've done next to know quests yet in pre.

1 run away from reaching 13 atm with my warrior, got mesmer skills from the uncompleted quest, ether feast is pretty good healing for 50 or so with healing sig for 107 atm

Swords own axes tough, sever + gash = dead charr

And for those pet lovers, if you're lvl 14-15, get a lvl 20 pet

I tried luring the wolves outside the abbey to the shrine in the village, it's doable but takes pretty long. Aggro all three, move very slowly towards the guard at the abbey gate and let the wolves kill him. Continue to move towards the res shrine (only 1 wolf needed, the rest can run back). There comes a spot where the wolf will keep running back no matter what you do (it's a few meters from the res shrine).

Unequip your armor, let the wolf kill you, it will walk back afterwards. As soon as you ress, aggro it again, and lure him to the shrine, go afk for a few hours and voila, lvl 20 pet

Or you can just aggro a strider next to the shrine if you want an ugly bird.. Wolfs are still doable

@ Dragonic, nope, I don't think they do, since you don't either. I tried this: Let a necro get high lvl minions, then let him leave, making the minions neutral, so you can kill them, but when you kill them, you don't even get "<number>xp" above your head. Don't think it'll be very different with those Charr. If it worked, it would be great though, might try it soon.

@ berko, yeah, many people lose their mind while doing this, which I can most certainly understand. Killing Charr gets very, very boring when you get to about level 12. What to do? DON'T DELETE YOUR CHARACTER!!!! I did this like 3 times, just because I tought "This is boring, let's delete it to get another character slot", just to find out it was great after all, making me to start another character. I've created my level 15 (almost 16, which means almost 17) a month ago, and yes, I got bored with him several times. I quited playing him for 10 days twice now, to play post-searing or another game. And then after a while, I felt like playing with him again, and I did.

@ islyan, well, you seem to know a about what to kill first, though, for me it's different, since I'm using axe, which means I'm using Cyclone Axe, which means I'm damaging 2-4 enemies at a time. With Cyclone Axe I just kill someone, and then kill the one I damaged most with Cyclone Axe of the remaining Charr most of the time, unless I'm getting hit by hunters, or unless I'm with a monk, with a monk I go for the Chaots as soon as possible. Though, since you're using a sword (which is a bit worse then axe, in my opinion), you can pick your own order of killing

@ Detis Zan, well if DreamCatcher doesn't mind, wich she most likely doesn't, since she's a great person, you can ask her about Rangers. She's probably the most experienced pre-searing Ranger in the game, and she can tell you whatever you need to know!

@ Ajantis, yeah, Mesmer is my second favorite secondary proffesion as a Warrior, right after Ranger.

Axes > Swords. Cyclone Axe is very good. Why? AOE damage, high damage, energy based, quick recharge. With one Cyclone Axe, I can deal up to 250 damage against a single 4 man group, and when I hit 4 targets, my Executioner's Strike is nearly recharged in one Cyclone Axe, and Executioner's Strike deal about 80 damage to a caster, 60 damage to a hunter and 106 damage to a Frenzied Charr. Though, with a W/Me, I guess Swords will work, since I don't use my energy for anything besides Cyclone Axe, you'll be using it for other stuff.

About the pet, you're right, you can get a level 20 Wolf by leveling him up. You can lure a wolf to the respawn point in the little village close to Ashford Abbey, it's hard, but possible. It'll take a while, but it's worth it, having a level 20 pet is great. And about the Strider.. Too hard for me. You can't go afk while leveling him up, since you lose it's aggro as soon as you die, so you need to hit him every time you respawn, no thanks, I'll stick to a wolf

And thanks alot for the compliments everyone, never thought many people would read this, although there are quite many newly starting permapre players lately.

Oh btw, I'm at 81% to level 16 now, I'll probably be level 16 this evening, I'll try to do all quests before I'm going to bed, I'll tell you if I'll make it to level 17 or not just by quests very soon.

About the strider: Impossible. Striders don't gain levels from killing you. I n fact, the ONLY animals that do are the pre-searing bears and the pre-searing wolves (I've tested every animal).

The reason is that the allegiance for the pets that start out "green" is with you - even though you can aggro them, they do not appear to gain XP from the combat, or it is reset after. I allowed a Strider to kill me 20 times; while a Wolf will gain the first level quickly (5 kills?) the Strider still didn't. I suppose this might have changed, as I tested it months ago, but at the time it was impossible for any wild animal that starts green to level vs a player (or at least, required way more kills than it should).

As to getting the Wolf to the shrine, wow, really? I didn't think yoiu could anymore - I used to do this, but thought it was impossible now. I have tried, always loses it before making it there. I'll have to try again I guess.

Too bad, guess I'll have to stick with Wolf then, since I've got to get rid of my level 16 Hearty Strider very soon He's so cool! Too bad I need to get rid of him in order to complete all the quests.

Aww.. I wish I knew this before I started my ranger.. =P

Just got started on the wolf trick. It works but I'm a level 7 and after a while the wolf became a level 5. =P Oh well. I can leave it on all day.

This is where I wish I had a 2x processor so I can play another game without lag.

You shouldn't level a Wolf untill you're very high level, just take a low level pet at the begin, and get rid of him when you're level 15/16/17, so you can level up the Wolf to level 20.

Oh, and I'm level 16 since about 5 minutes ago, time for quests!

Ah okay. =P Well at least he's a lvl 8 now so he's some use.

Just gotta get to 15-17 that's the time comsuming part.

Level 16-17 is easy, already at 25% in about 10 minutes You're right though, getting to level 16 without quests took me about 70 hours, pretty insane huh?

Well good luck! Guess I'm sticking to my level 16 Hearty Strider after all, I'm addicted to her, she's so cute!

Maxie I think I found a way to solo a specific group of charr at lvl 7.

Remember that Across the Wall Quest to get Ben Wolfson? Well after killing the oakhearts in the whole area you can get those small pack of charr without help of a person (besides the opening of gate) and talk to him. After that he'll fight without sharing exp with you.
Looks like he'll follow you anywhere so he'll fight with ya all the time.

If you completed the quest by accident and have NOT turned it in just abandon it and take it up again.

I didn't tried the striders, just assumed so

Still, lvl 20 wolves ftw

Damn guys.. I don't think I'm going to make it to level 17. I still ned 2341xp, and I'm getting the feeling I've pretty much ran out of quests. Might get close, but I'm not going to level, I'm rather sure about that.

And Ben Wolfson is great indeed, nice for a beginning solo'er. Though, still not worth it though, solo'ing is boring, and takes to long, don't start it.

Just started a ranger in pre and im at lvl6 so far after a couple of hours
just messing about killing along the way to fort ranik and getting some basic
skills sorted out, got all my collector armour and im looking for a decent bow
to get me started solo accross the wall for leveling and the extra damage will be
very nice for everything else in pre.

I've so far not done any quests appart from accidentaly getting
gwen's flute quest reward, but thats ok it was an accident.

Any tips from you lot would be very nice, i've never stuck around in pre
very long after getting my first set of skills so if theres anything i should
know to get me leveled up a little faster then throw me a bone or two, ...

Get a pet - It helps, Cyber. Also run to aiden with max attribs in wilderness, and just run there, tsake the quest, and get out. They're quite important. If ya wanna level fast, get to level 7 from the level 2 skales outside ranik, then go over the wall with someone. Happy huntin'!

Yay! Finally got to level 11. Now, I should be able to solo some groups of charr.

Oh yes, I'm also looking for Red Iris Flowers (Don't ask why, its a guild thing).

If anyone has some they don't want, contact me In game

IGN: Death Dragon II (So type Death Dragon iL)

Thanks Maxie, for your help!

Well islyan, I found a purple Sword you might be intrested in, and you can have it if you need it. It's only a bit better then the Rinblade, here are the stats:

Scimitar of Defense
Slashing Dmg: 10-14 (req. 5 Swordsmanship)
Damage +12% (while Health is below 50%)
Armor +4

It's free, but please, only take it if you really want it.

A level 20 pet is still possible!

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/6536/lvl20pet1fk.jpg

There's the picture of me with my level 20 Strider. Some notes. It's only possible with pets that are rather close to the respawn point, otherwise, they run back to the place they were originally. The pet does NOT grow, so it'll stay small (in the picture you can see me with my pet and a wild Strider, which is just as small as my pet). The pet does NOT get a name (Hearty, Agrressive or Elder). The pet does do the original damage (which is great by the way).

I did this exact thing last week with my baby ranger. But it didn't seem to help much, the Charr just killed us both. I admit I'm no expert pre-searing Charr hunter though, maybe it could work...

Does that mean the pet doesn't get any of the skills as well?

Maybe you could add a map with all the skill trainers on it? I know I had a lot of trouble finding Aiden.

I can't seem to find the person that gives read the wind, point blank shot

Wow, I'm amazed - I tried to get them to level for ages Maxie! I didn't think it could, I stand corrected.

Oh, I'll show off my newest I guess - not as impressive I guess, but:

lvl 20 Wolf > Strider

How the hell did you charm the bear???

Nice Guide this is Legendary Noob God by the way I saw your name here and decided to say whatsup.And yea how the hell did you charm that bear?I have written guides on it but never have done it myself.

I describe it quickly here:

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...&postcount=106

Unfortunately I don't think there is a bear anywhere close to a rez shrine, so no level 20 bear.

Nice on getting the bear Epinephrine Thanks for comfirming this.

And level 20 Wolf.. Not sure that's still possible. I just wonder if it's possible to get a level 20 Bear, though, it'd be hard to level him, because you'd have to stay in that game for about 11 hours, together. Which of course, sucks ass.

I managed to get the wolf to the rez shrine 2 days ago, so it remains possible, but it was a pain to do. My ranger could technically make a level 20 wolf (he's level 14 now) but it would be long; hitting the (level+6) takes a long time - well over an overnight run - it was about 20 hours or so when I did it at level 9 to get a level 15 wolf. If one was a Ranger/Warrior or Warrior Ranger one might accomplish it a bit faster by triggering Frenzy whenever possible to speed up dying.

For the bear, since it takes 2 people, you'd need to have both in game the whole night, levelling the bear (if you can find a spot to do it - I tried to kill off the monk at the shrine in the mountains, but they just won't die, and the monk near fort ranik can survive 10 skales lobbing missiles at her, though barely - I think if I could have gotten a few more ver there I might have dropped her), and then you'd need to spend the time trying to charm it, and hoping to get a success. Rather long.

It's not about getting the Wolf to the shrine, I've done that before too, though, if it kills you, it just runs away. Striders are so close to the respawn point that they don't run away from you that quickly, so you'll aggro them as soon as you ressurect. You can always try with Wolf, but I don't think you'll have much luck.

Well, it seemed like the "home range" of the wolf was resetting - it would follow me and turn around, but I gradually shifted the boundary of its patrol it seemed. I guess I'll try tonight, see if I can level a wolf on me.

10 meters away from the shrine the wolf sprints back to it's original place, if you let the beast kill you there he will just wander off..

Aggro him again after ressing and he will follow you to the shrine without problems and he stayed in it too last time I tried (blocked by the shrine 'wall' I presume)

Yep.. Managed to get a Wolf to level 15 It still works.