Slash Dot's Droknar's Forge Rushing Customer Guide

can the OP or somebody else who is good at this run show me what skills i should bring? i would like to know so that i might run guild members if they whant me to. thanks

I request half the the payment at Snake's Dance and the other half at Droknar's when I run folks. Most of my rushing is for guild members but if we don't have a full group of folks I'll grab a few people from Beacon's and go.

If your rusher can make it to Snake's Dance they are going to finish the run. The most difficult of the zones is Lormar's. Dreadnaught you just send the party to die to the right and coast on in from there after they all get hexed and not you.

I'm a W/E so not the ideal rushing build. I probably die in Lormar's on average 1-2x per trip (I seem to be getting worse with age though my deaths now are contained to one spot somewhat early in the run...ice imps (mind freeze) + wurms (@#$@) + avicara (@#$#) = dead runner).

Sprint, Charge and Balanced Stance are the ones every Warrior rusher needs. The rest of the skills can differ but for a W/Mo I would suggest Smite Hex and Mend Ailment to deal with the ice imps, golems and the barbed traps the pinesouls leave around. Shields up can be handy in places but isn't absolutely vital. Some sort of healing is a good idea to heal up between mobs, Healing Signet is a good choice as you're going to have high tactics. And Endure Pain is very important since it allows you to complete the run even with high death penalty, which you'll probably get for a while.

awesome thanks for the advice. now to work on getting charge

Don't you mean +5 insightful

-Diomedes

I've done many, many, many runs but couldn't tell you the name of of all the zones on demand. I just have a lousy memory for names. Also, I think the hardest part of Snake Dance isn't the knockdown...it's the Arcanist that sometimes pops up 100 feet from the portal to Rankor.

I rushed my 3rd character for the armor, funny thing was we paid half at Rankor, after I paid I had to go to the bathroom, when I got finished we were in Draknor and the rusher guy was messaging me like crazy, I just apologized for not being there and paid,went about the business of finishing the missions and collecting skills for pvp.

He probably would have done. Unfortunately I've had more than a few people who have gone "afk" at Rankor or Draknor's Forge and not showed up again. He probably assumed that you were trying to scam him. Unfortunately if you really have to be away from the keyboard there you're going to get falsely accused. This is why I no longer take payment at Rankor, only at Snake Dance and at the end.

the arcanists only show up sometimes, and that can be solved with a rezone/death. simple.

Yea that sounds like quite a challenge

Yes, he only shows up sometimes. Yes, death + rezone will get rid of him...but my goal is always to get the run done without dying, and the arcanist is always a greater danger to that goal than any of the knockdown stuff, be it the trolls or the shadows.

my goal is to get the rush done as fast as possible. rezoning does that.

Agreed...the run is much easier without the Arcanist than with it (or at least if he's off to the side in a way you can run around him), and it's significantly better to have a 33% chance he'll be there than a 100% chance that he'll be there...but the damage has already been done if you're rezoning.

Anyway, we both seem to agree that he's dangerous enough to often be lethal, but the issue I have with your opinion is that you don't seem to think he's more dangerous than knockdowns whereas I do.

You have a 100% chance to encounter constant knockdown during Snake Dance. You can't rezone to avoid knockdown. You have a 33% chance to encounter the Arcanist. When you see the arcanist, you simply rezone and continue on. That is no danger to me. Knockdown is a much more persistent problem because it is unavoidable. I have no problem completing the run on 60% DP. I did it once just to test it out. The arcanist is only in one spot. Knockdown is on a HUGE stretch of the map.

If you can complete the zone, full of knockdown mobs with 60% DP but can't get past the Arcanist with 0 DP, I think we're on the same page whether you care to admit it or not.

I just had my monk run to the Forge as well. To answer somone's question upthread, I do not have my characters rushed thru all the zones and end up at the Desert Trials at level 3, or some other ridiculously low level. After I get my high-level armor, which for casters - my chosen professions - tops out at a pitiful AL60, I return to Beacon's Perch and pick up the storyline where I left off, but better dressed. If I was a warrior, I don't think I'd bother with Lornar's Pass to get to the armor. But it is absolutely invaluable for a caster.

Just wanted to share an awesome experience with you,

I'm on my 3rd character now, I've already had a lvl 20 monk and warrior. I wanted to start a mesmer for GvG and PvP. So, I decided to rush though as much as possible and try to get a forge run form beacon's at lvl 11. I'd gone through the normal way with both my other characters, so this thread really helped me choose a runner. I watched for all the signs you've posted on here, and asked the Tactics question as well.

I was pleased to get a rundown of all the runners attributes prompty from asking. Also, this particular runner didn't take cash up front, and accepted payment (lower than all the rest I might add, only 2k) at Rankor. After talking to him about it, he said that about 20% of his customers ditch out on him, but he didn't really mind, he was a nice guy.

So, he gets all 5 of us there and low and behold one of them skips out on him. I told him I would pay him an extra plat on top for such a good run and being a nice guy overall. This was echoed by another member of the party, pretty much putting him back to what he would've made anyhow. I also told him I would post his name on here for all to see (with his permission) as an excellent runner.

If you are indeed looking for this service, I would HIGHLY reccomend:
Carna Detonas

Thanks to this thread, I took the plunge and had a nice experience yesterday with my first paid run to Droknars. The runner (w/mo) only asked for payment at the Forge itself. The run was magnificent; he was entertaining, showboated a bit and very skilled. Recommended

Runners name: Graka Ekerion

i had Graka run my W/mo - and your quite right, he is excellent. great fuin watching him taunt, dance and other such things at the monsters..as well as the rest of us arguing about who stayled alive at the portal to respawn the map.. most of us watned to watch him.. XD

I know a lot of people kick, scream and curse about running the Pass to Drofnar's, but I find it great fun to watch a professional runner work. Most of them take their "job" seriously. And, thanks to runners, I'm enjoying AL60 on my level 10 and 11 characters.