Fool Proof Hydra Farming Build

hi, excuse me if this has been posted before but i just thougt i would share for those who cant seem to get the hang of hydra farming.

it is quite possible one of the easiest farming builds i have ever used:

Equipment



ideally, you want to use a % stance sword but this i dont have a stance sword, and this was the best sword for the job i had.

i have sup tactics and minor strength runes, and use whatever vigor/absorption you want. i only used minor vig/abs since i dont much see the point of -2 damage or an extra 20 hp. also, i guess you can use a sword rune, but im dont have one one cause of my armor setup.

skills are pretty self explanatory.

Process

as your rushing in, hit ele resistance.

just as you reach hydra, hit dolyak signet.

start off with desparation blow, and mabye a healing signet if you get hit with meteor before you can get dolyak signet on.

then just keep hitting that hydra, spamming watch yourself, dolyak signet, and all of your attacks.

ViM should be your only healer in groups of 2 or 3, but use healing signet when facing groups of 4 or more.

most ive gathered at once so far is 6, which was taken down easily, and im sure you can take upwards of 10 hydras.

takin on 7


cool drop


not much more to say about it. very easy, very basic, and quite profitable

have fun and tell me what you think

is it possible with axe?

yes...just weapon switch between axe and sword to use riposte, switch out galrath for penetrating or executioners

Cool build man very usefull I will def. try it out.

Seems like alot of work. I use a W/Mo with the follow skill set...

Flurry - Great for charging ripostes and is your stance for the Shield and also makes you gain more health back from LV
Riposte
Deadly Riposte
Watch Yourself
Dolyak Signet
Healing Hands {E}
Balth Spirit
Live Vicarously

Healing 8
Strength 10 (9+1)
Sword 9 (8+1)
Tactics 13 (11+1+1)

Pre cast LV and BS. Run into battle and hit dolyak before the first meteor hits you. Now just spam the first 5 skills as and when they charge, only use Healing Hands if youve lost about 50% of your health. Which normally is only when your fighting 5 hydras.

I recommend a Zealous sword for this to get 6 energy back from using Flurry. Theres a collectors in the desert that does a +15 while in stance sword which works great with a Zealous mod on it. Add a +5 Defence mod for that extra bit of armour if you want.

I don't know why your using healing signet as thats -40 armour when casting. As long as im in stance with all armour increasing skills on me I only take 22 dmg from a meteor and 0 from all melee attacks.

The best thing about this build is it requires absolutly no skill what so ever If you can click buttons on the skill bar your good to go. The only downside to this build is the requirement for Healing Hands. I know others use Vicarous Spirit instead, but I prefer Healing Hands, shorter casting time so never gets interupted from meteors if you cast without dolyak on yourself.

I couldn't see this being faster with an axe. Doing 72 dmg from riposte and 67 from deadly riposte every 4 and 10 seconds or so seconds is hard to beat.

why take 22 damage from meteor when you can take 9

and ide say sword is definetly preferred, but use ex. strike and penetrating blow for galrath and riposte if you want to use axe.

Quote: Originally Posted by ]SK[

It's not a case of liking any profession its about making use of skills to create the best build for the job. It just so happens that its the monk build which I prefer as its alot faster of the two.

Here's the thing. Why bother posting and making this into another flame war? My post was being constructive, is yours?

Yep, it is profitable. I've done this for some time and today i got two fire staffs and two air staffs, 3 of them had good mods. Sold them and got pretty good cash.

Although Elemental Resistance is an excellent stance for this farming run, I find that Mantra of Flame is even more excellent. The damage taken is very similar (and still very low) but the constant energy regen allows spamming of energy based attack skills with ease, and also gives enough energy to use Epidemic...

Hey W/Me is great fun! Sever, Gash, Epidemic, Victory is Mine! (And victory IS mine.

But hey, its not like Hydra farming is so hard that only certain builds can do it.

can u do it with a hammer warrior?

Mine :
15 Str/2 Inspiration/12 Sword/8 or 9 tactics

Elemental Resistance
Doylak Signet
"Watch Yourself!"
Healing Signet
Galrath Slash
Hundred Blades {E}
Sever Artery
Gash

Zealous Flamberge of Defense(13% stance)
-2/+45(stance) crimson carapace shield

Works good enough for me. Can drop a hydra in ~15 seconds, and have soloed 10 and came out alive before.
Can also switch dmg. skills to:
Executioner's Strike
Cyclone Axe
Cleave {E}
Penetrating blow
although I find swords to be more quick and effecient.

I average about 2k in gold/merchant sales + other stuff(parchment from scrolls, good rares,weapon mods).

Farming these hydra's are fun. you can try so many varations. u can go W/Mo or W/Me i mean it's endless. While the W/Mo can heal more the W/Me can take less damage.

What is skill 8? (sorry to sould like a noob)

personally i like the W/Me build far more than the w/mo build cause u don't take that much dmg and u don't have to sit there and spam flurry etc.

Flurry is there to charge riposte, which = more dmg output over time.

nice build

sk, you should take the time and make your own thread of how you farm hydras with screenshots and organized paragraphs like knido did, not degrade his build

Where have I "degraded" his build? Ive just posted mine thats all...

Does this mean XBC has also done the same since he too posted his? Jeez.

You can swap out healing signet and put in epidemic. With all the conditions spreading around, ViM heal for some unreal numbers.

hehe gotta love ViM

though i think itd be better to swap out Deadly Riposte for regular Riposte, since regular has higher damage and all the hydras will be bleeding for DoT with epidemic.

nice how Epidemics recharge also coinciedes with ViM making for some easy timing. ill be sure to try that and see if i get any sexy numbers

Question about epidemic....
Pretned i put a bleeding and a deep wound on a hydra. If i use epidemic will it remove those and out it on ONE hydra or does it duplicate it and make several hydras have the condition?

also where did you get that collector sheild?