UW/FoW farming, best speed/drops combination?

I'm in the boat that Mists describes. I don't have time to wait for practice groups for SCs. I've learned to farm UW and FoW solo as a SoS rit. One weekend I was actually able to clear FoW in NM(took about 5 hours I think).

With all my time farming added up I could do SCs, but in my experience the practice groups take too long to form(30-60 minutes minimum), they fail, and I'm occasionally out a conset or a scroll.

I can solo at my own pace, with no wait, and the drop rate in FoW is pretty damn good for shards. You can clear all monsters in FoW with an SoS(burning forest is a HUGE waste of time, though). For the people who want to do solo, I suggest clearing the beach, the tower of courage, the battlefield, the spider cave, and the forest of the wailing lord. You get a lot of monsters with potentially good drops per 1k spent, it's somewhat quick(once you get used to it) and no waiting! Obviously much easier in NM.

UW farming is also pretty successful, clearing outside the labyrinth is pretty much a waste of time(too much effort for too few drops), but smite crawlers are possible if you spam summon spirits. Best chamber I've seen was 3 ecto and a sapphire(when they peaked around 10k a pop), its usually at least 1 ecto, though sometimes nothing good drops. You always get your 1k back in gold drops though.

I've been out of the farming game for quite some time, but I know for a fact that variants of the UW farm are still quick ways to earn a bit of cash.

However, you need to elaborate on your request. Are you looking for fast runs with reasonable/good drops, builds that make runs it go faster, or runs that require little set-up prior?

As for fast runs, here are the options off the top of my head. As I mentioned earlier, I've been out of the big farming scene for many years (back when Ectoes were worth double what they are now...Those were the days):

UW Labyrinth clear - Aatxe hunting in the first area(s) of UW. Good for a few ectoes, sometimes a decent drop. Lots of vendor trash quickly accumulates for either salvaging lots of glittering dust or some small change.

UW Smites clear - Still doable, still profitable. Obviously longer than the straight Labyrinth run, but better drops, more likelihood of chests, and more enemies to get ecto drops from.

UW Ranger Run - As somebody already mentioned in this thread, Rangers are capable of doing most of UW. It's not a quick thing, but it's easy to set up. Doesn't require any good timing or skills, just a working build and you're golden.

FoW Beach clear - Probably the best bang for your buck here. Shards are still worthwhile, there are always chests along the way, and it's not as long-winded or tiresome as the UW runs.

FoW chest running - Easy, fairly fast, and possibly profitable.


I'm afraid I can't help much with the current builds for any of those, but I'd wager there's not been much change. Pretty sure 55/160 builds still work in UW, as do Warrior Smite tanks and trapper Rangers. FoW beach clear still works, and possibly even better than before thanks to PvE skills.


Hope that helps.

Might I ask what this ranger UW build is? Trapper? Spirits? Hit and run?

Thanks for the replies people!

I'm reading from this that either clearing the Lab with SoS, or the beach is probably my best bet for a decent mix of speed and drops.

RE the SoS in the labrinth, is it purely the aatxes and skeles that you bother with?

I just tried it after long time and got 3 ectos in single run ( most of aataxe spawns). I quit doing it before because of zero drops and time needed.
I'm thinking about duo with my sec acc. Rt clears way up to plains, then I use a 100b to kill smites, while rt takes care of Coldfires and skeletons. To bad I only have a lvled sin on 2. acc.

Is sin a killing smites with 100b or traps possible?

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but i got a similar question like the OP. I'm still reasonably new go GW, about 3 weeks in, and recently convinced a friend to join me for the Hall of Monuments. Now my question is, me being a Ritualist main and all, are duos like this http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/6...tml?t=10242460 still viable?
We simply need an insane amount of plat (well, for newbies that is) to even craft armor sets etc. for the hall, not to speak of the costs for the items.

Appreciate your help, it's kinda harsh to get a grip on GW this late in the game, so thanks guys

So the idea is to simply let the spirits tank and not use the whole lifeleech-tank aspect? How about my monk buddy in this scenario, can you recommend a useful build for him in this case?

Also, does this apply to the UW only, or is spirit tanking the better approach in general these days?

E: oh i see, the build recommends all out spirit and pretty much nothing else, even for the second guy.

If you can't get into a speed clear because of your lack of stones, do what I do. Start your own group asking for 100+. Noone ever thinks of asking the leader for his stones, at not least in my experience in doing it.

I've read there have been changes to the mindblades due to the AI changes, so is the old D/A // A/D build still viable for the farm?

@lawliet kira: as the OP already explained he isn't interested in SC
edit: scratch that its perfectly fine :/