Icey Dragon Sword Farming - Still Possible?

Ok, probably a stupid question, but some of my guildies want an IDS Sword, so I decided sure, i'm a W/Mo with every secondary unlocked i'll try it. I switched to W/Me and already had Elemental Resistance.

I do the first part, and no sweat. do the second part with the path to the north.. no problem.. then.. i get to the cave....

I'm staring at 3 or so Ice Imps, and about 6 Avicara... i decide why not.. i made it this far.. so i pull the avicara thinkin.. oh.. these guys will be easy... One of them puts Ineptitude on me, not paying attention i swing and get hit for 135, and blinded.. also have fragility on so my health is going down quite fast along with being attacked.. i sprint out of there. and i have 1 hp.. from degen.. then fragility ends and i take 17 damage.. killing me..

so.. has this place been nerfed lately? or have i just gotten 2 horrible spawns in a row.. last time i tried there was only a Ice Golem or a Mountain Troll with the ice imps.

btw.. The Guide I'm following is:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=97778

It's completely random. Sometimes there are chickens hanging out with the Imps, sometimes there aren't. When you get a bad spawn, you can try pulling the Imps away with a longbow and hope to kill them without aggroing the birds, but that usually doesn't work. Personally, I just die and rezone to save time. It's VERY easy to work off DP out there (something I discovered the other day and just haven't bothered to post yet )

hmmm someone at arenanet must hate me then lol.

attempts: 10
ice imps killed: 0
......lol....

first attempt: get there, and theres avicara.
second attempt: get there, and theres avicara.
third attempt: avicara.....
forth attempt: Moutain Troll... forget to switch armor and die lol.
fifth attempt: big swarm of heretics before the portal.
sixth attempt: heretics before portal.
seventh attempt: avicara...
eighth attempt: elementalist boss....
ninth attempt: necro boss with an avicara that chases me all the way to the ice imps... little bastard hated me.. lol.
tenth attempt: heretics.....

not bad... 10 tries.. 1 "possible" farm run... lol.

just a question.... but is this normal?... lol..


2 Ice Golems... 1 Mountain Troll, group of avicara that i managed to deaggro (using sprint).. and 3 avicara chasing me from the blue circle to almost the boss after the giants indicated by the green arrow....?

Note that just because there are avicara doesn't mean there will be the mesmer avicara with them. Sometimes you will just get braves and fierces, other times you may get an ardent or two thrown in. I think it has something to do with which boss is in that area, but not positive on that.

thanks for the replies guys, just went there with a guildie, he did die as hes R/Mo and we had to run into the Ice Imps to deaggro the birds. (thus the Ice Imps and Ice Golem aggroed him insted of me)

he managed to keep the Ice Golem on him & Rust so I was able to finish off the ice golem and then the ice imps.

No IDS for the run, but had fun doin it.

hey, just a supid question: do ice imps outside marhans grotto drop IDS also? or does it drop inly in the cave in mineral springs?
tnx

I think it's only in cave

Hmmm everyone has seemed to have trouble with the elementalist boss, when i encounter him I put up ele resistance and use charge, quite simple ^^.

today

why are u using "Distracting Blow" j/w? i thought of trying that skill also

I haven't been having trouble getting to the imps so much as I've been having trouble getting an ids to drop. I haven't gotten a single IDS in the last 4 times I killed Ice Imps. My build is:

Desperation Blow
Dolyak Signet
Defy Pain
Watch Yourself
Healing Signet
Elemental Resistance
Endure Pain
Sprint

What do you think of this build?

Quote: Originally Posted by Happy Ness

i bring a sword w/ lenghting bleeding and Sever Artery -> Gash... (just to mix up the run and stop bordem)

I usually have better luck going the long way around with my R/W than going the south road with my W/Me, but anyway...

If you see a chicken chasing you for a long way, it's a caster who's started casting as curse on you. Best to back up, let him cast his spell, and then run away.

If you get the elemental boss, remember that his curse makes you immune to all but lightning damage. If he hits you, you can safely hit elemental resistance and sig like crazy until the hex starts to wear off. Then sprint the heck out of there!

I've been getting a lot of chickens at the front of the cave lately too. I've gotten pretty stubbern about killing them off or drawing the imps out. Spent a good hour doing that Monday but at least I got an IDS from that run.

I can solo it wit my war monk build its quite easy accually. The only hard part is the avicara, they are a random spawn and if they are near cave oyur screwed

i have a much easier and faster build when it comes to this. check it out: HERE