Ferndale VQ ~30min H/H no cons (Kurzick Faction Farming)

With the upcoming Double Faction Weekend, I thought I'd share a method of quickly acquiring Kurzick faction.

The fastest way to gain allegiance faction is vanquishing. With the nerf of 600/smite, DTSC has become slower than before. I have never done DTSC myself, but I didn't like the idea of relying on 7 other people to gain faction (what if one is a noob, d/c's, etc), so I decided to vanquish areas myself using heroes/henchmen.

Why Ferndale? The enemies in Ferndale are pushovers. Ferndale doesn't have much AoE damage (only echovald area without Wardens of Earth), the foes have negligible enchantment, condition and hex removal and their healing is pretty weak too. With the right route and builds, you can vanquish Ferndale with a hero/henchman party without any consumables in around 30 minutes.



ENEMIES

Let's take a look at the main kinds of mobs you will encounter on a Ferndale vanquish:

Dredge: most of the groups in Ferndale are parties of four Dredge, sometimes including Fungal Wallows. If these groups don't include a Dredge Gardener, you can steamroll over them without a hitch. They deal mediocre damage and possess no significant healing (troll unguent, healing signet, shadow refuge). Dredge depend on a Dredge Gardener to stay alive. The Gardener does this through bonding and protting. Solution: enchantment removal and kill them first. After they are dead, the rest of the group follows quickly.

Wardens: these come in groups of around 6, usually but not always including a ritualist. These ritualist are to be taken out first, since they pose two threats: healing allies and casting splinter weapon on rangers and warriors. Luckily, their only real heal is Spirit Light, so they can be taken out fast with some pressure. If they manage to cast splinter weapon, Pain Inverter on the target with splinter weapon does wonders. The rest of the Wardens no self-healing and go down easily. The only (marginal) threat are mesmers with enchantment and hex removal, AoE interruption and Energy Surge. Sometimes, Stone Scale Kirins are part of a Warden group. They can summon a minion or two but offer no challenge.

Mantis: these are the most annoying foes you will encounter in Ferndale. They come in groups of three or four. The elementalists possess Maelstrom and Obsidian Flesh, posing a nuisance to your spellcasters. The monks don't have much healing (healing breeze, signet of rejuvenation, pretty terrible heals), but they can remove hexes and conditions with Empathic Removal. While the groups of Mantis are annoying, they don't do much damage and go down easily if you can kill the monk and interrupt maelstrom/obsidian flesh.

Luxons: personally, I don't vanquish Ferndale with the quests so I do not usually run into them. Sometimes they randomly spawn anyway. With their skill bars though, they would've been better off staying in the Jade Sea. If a monk spawns in their group, it has Word of Healing and should be the first priority. The ritualists have a hard res in the form of Flesh of my Flesh, but I have not encountered one yet (they probably only spawn if you actually have the quest).

With these enemies in mind, builds can or should include:
- plenty of enchantment removal
- only moderate protting/healing, you can focus on damage and utility
- minions are always good



BUILDS

I will give you the builds I use, but I'm not saying they are the optimal builds and other suitable builds will work of course. I'm still tweaking the builds as well.

Myself (ele): AP Caller
- I use 13 Fire Magic (superior rune) so Glyph of Immolation lasts 1 spell extra and the burning 1 second longer.
Hero 1: Curse Command Discord
- AoE weakness and decreased attack speeds against assassins and warriors.
- Enchantment removal that causes a condition.
- Fall Back (coupled with hero 2) speeds up the vanquish vastly.
Hero 2: Minion Bomber Command Discord
- Stand Your Ground is a nice armor boost for a full caster party.
- Fall Back, same as hero 1.
- Minions provide both offense and defense.
Hero 3: Air of Disenchantment Resto
- Air of Disenchantment destroys Dredge Gardeners.

Henchmen in Echovald Forest don't have great skill bars. However, the two monk henchmen coupled with the healing from my mesmer hero easily keep the party alive without a single death through vanquishes of Ferndale. To fill up the party, I use the remaining two slots for Sheena and Erys Vasburg. Sheena deals good damage and inflicts several hexes. Erys helps interrupt monks and Maelstrom/Obsidian Flesh and can knockdown while he's at it. Since hex removal is mostly lacking, backfire and empathy are of use as well.



ROUTE & TACTICS

On to the route I use to vanquish. I start my vanquish in Aspenwood Gate, because the first two bosses you encounter are also the hardest part of the entire vanquish. If you manage to cleanly beat the first two bosses a successful vanquish is practically guaranteed.

Here is a map of my route:



The large dots are bosses (profession corresponding to color). The medium orange dots are Oni spawns (always three Oni in a group).

The orange dots encircled with white are Oni spawns that can be avoided.

The assassin boss encircled with white is the Warden of Saprophytes who does not spawn if you have completed Temple of the Dredge. The accompanying group(s) of wardens will also not spawn, so you can take the shorter white dotted route. I suggest you do not finish that quest, since the boss kill awards 250 faction.

The first boss fight is definitely the hardest. Mungri Magicbox is an elite version of a Dredge Gardener with exactly the same skill set. The hard part is that you have to run from the first group you kill at the res shrine to catch up with him before he patrols away. During your fight with his group other patrols will come from the sides and from behind. It is imperative that you kill Mungri and/or the Gardeners first. With Air of Disenchantment or similar skills you can take him down quickly.

The second boss is a fire elementalist with high damage fireballs and teinai's heat. He seems to be alone, but once you come close to him the groups of two dredge close to him join him. If one of these has a Gardener, I suggest you kill that first. Minions and Pain Inverter help distract/kill Tarlok Evermind. If he manages to cast Teinai's Heat in your party, flag your party out of it.

After these two bosses, the route above is pretty self-explanatory. The other bosses are not difficult to take out. The groups of Mantis are only in the Northwest part of the map, between the yellow boss (warrior Tarnen the Bully) and the pink boss (assassin Urkal the Ambusher / Maximole).

I hope this thread/guide helps you max your Kurzick title. I know I will be putting my nose to the grindstone this weekend!