The Farm Report: Melandru's Hope

Winstar

Winstar

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

London

Melandru’s Hope: Farming the Bog

EDIT* Added an {E} by Healing hands . Added some notes on the bosses. Added a pic of the Brightclaw. Below is a map of the boss locations.

map:

EDIT* Add Silverwing slash, drop Live Vicariously. I've killed all the bosses with that change
EDIT* Finally got Chkkr to drop his pincers...

EDIT* Got around to buying a str shield ...finally. Adjustments made to attributes

bossalive:
bossdead:
Chkkr's Brightclaw:


Changed the build and can now clear everything and the boss who drops the following green (which hasn't dropped yet for me): Chkkr's Pincers 7-17 r9 15^50 vamp 3-1 Health +30. See below for details.

Hello all, just though I’d share my build for Melandru’s Hope. Again, this gets the job done but any input on improving etc. would be greatly appreciated. There may be much better builds.

Attruibutes

Healing The Rest
Str 11
Sword 15


Skills

sever artery
gash
galrath slash
Silverwing Slash
Flurry
Dolyak Signet
Healing Hands {E}
Live Vicariously

Wep: Zealous Long Sword of Def +5 15^50. The zealous sword is used instead of balthazars. I find that its easy to maintain energy like this and you can squeeze in galrath for the needed damage.

General Plan

To get here you hop out the door to Melandru’s Hope from Lutgardis Conservatory where you will be Mantis hunting. Head towards the water killing any groups of Mantis you might meet on the way. You will be facing massive conditions and hexes and loads of health degeneration. I assume there is some build with Melandru’s Resilience (I think that’s the name…) that would be even better but I haven’t thought about it enough as of yet.

To start, toss on your 2 enchantments and engage a mantis group on the way to the water. They are usually in pairs, 1 hunter + 1 dreamweaver or stormbringer (or whatever its called). Kill the mage types first. The Storm’s are easy pickings and don’t cause any problems while the dreamweavers are a pain. Throw up Healing Hands and Dolyak once engaged and chop away. When hands drops, if you are fighting a dreamweaver keep swinging to gain life from Live Vicariously and vig spirit. When Hands is ready again up it goes. Once the Mage type drops take out the hunter. You can play this really safe and only take on groups of 2 at a time, but its pretty easy to take on 4 (2 mages 2 hunters). Plus you should get used to this since when you enter the bog the groups are patrolling like crazy and its hard not to draw in more than 1 group at a time. I’ve taken down a group of 6 in bog and that is the most so far, and you don’t really need to engage more than that at one time. Keep pulling to separate the groups.

In the bog you will be facing menders. First: never take on 2 menders at once as you can’t take them down with the build as it is. Second: Try and kill the mender first, then the mage type (priority to dreamweavers), then the hunters. Sometimes its easier to kill the Hunters first if the mage types are not right on you and you are crippled with loads of degen on you. In such cases, hang in there and kill the Hunters.

When you enter the bog you should circle around the outside of the mobs and pull in small groups, it makes life a hell of a lot easier.

Notes On Bosses

Chkkr Locust Lord - not much to say here. Keep spamming you attacks and while Dol. Sig. is up as much as possible.

Chkkr Brightclaw - Beware of 2 things. 1) There is a wandering group of undergrowths Stonescale Kirin and a Dragonmoss that can sneak up on you while fighting the boss. Don't fret as you should be able to take the down as they will also engage chkkr. 2) Chkkr won't come close to killing you, but it takes a while to drop her. Just keep swinging. 3) Its best to pull the boss rather than charging in and triggering all the pop-ups.

Ranger Boss - the most annoying to get at. The safest way is to pull the group to the top of the walkway that leads to Jade Quarry. There the guards will engage them and make your life easier. This group doesn't like to pull all the way to the top. It takes some patience.

Monk Boss - Similar story to the Rit. Beware the popups, clean them up first and then take out the boss.


Difficulty

This is a bit of a challenge, I’m not sure where I’d rate it since I’ve just begun working on this and it may get much easier with time and refinement of the build. You might die once from an unfortunate aggro, but you can go on at -15 (which will melt away quickly) and its a short trip from the res point to the bog. You frequently dip in to the 100 range, but don't dispair live vicariously and vig spirit + flurry should keep you stable until you can put healing hands up again at which point your life flies back to the top of the bar.

Drops

Loads of Mantice Pincers that are worth 30g and can be traded to collectors for some decent items. Generic white/blue/purple items. Gold drops, I got one each run. When I was doing it they seemed to like to drop gold marble hammers but I also got a nice shield. Generally worth while, but I don’t have an reasonable estimate of time/money as of yet. As mentioned above, the boss drops a nice green. I've also had black dye and amber chunks. My last run pulled in around 4k.

Pics
fight! http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=412311

Its easy to get there!:

Loot!:

Cheers

Winstar

Loshi

Loshi

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2006

W/

which is why the smite hex it there.


??? I see no smite hex, good sir/madam!

Furthermore...

Healing 10 (you can drop this to 9 and smite down to bump str if you want)

Why would you put atts into Smite, when the listed build has no smite?

DarkZeal

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2005

N/Me

He said he changed the build @ the start : P

Loshi

Loshi

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2006

W/

Mmm, alright. Figured it out.

Winstar

Winstar

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

London

Yeah, sorry I forgot to chop the mention of smite hex. Not needed as is.

DarkZeal

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2005

N/Me

Is there a reason why you have 10 in Tactics? YOu aren't using any tactic skills. Use a Str Shield and there's no reason to waste points there.

Iori Shozu

Iori Shozu

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2006

N/

I'm thinking this area has w/r greneths build written all over it! Now I just need to get my warrior there and try it.

I hate faction farming.

Winstar

Winstar

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

London

Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkZeal
Is there a reason why you have 10 in Tactics? YOu aren't using any tactic skills. Use a Str Shield and there's no reason to waste points there. Except for the fact that I don't happen to have a strength shield...still luggin around collectors shields. It doesn't really make a big difference.

leonidasthe

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2006

Knight Crusaders

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Winstar
Except for the fact that I don't happen to have a strength shield...still luggin around collectors shields. It doesn't really make a big difference. You can make a shield in Kaineng Center. It requires iron and steel. The mods are +30 health -5 damage received (20% chance). You can get either a strength or tactics shield.

mtm

mtm

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Portugal & Greece

W/

Winstar check the shields in Kaineng Center, you can craft a str shield there

Loshi

Loshi

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2006

W/

Yeah, I tried this today, after 2 runs went:
WAIT ONE SEC! I'm not using any kickass stances...

Why the bloody hell do I have junk in Tactics?

I switched it over and pumped Swordie and Str, and it worked _gloriously_

Thanks a ton, I got a set of Gold 14^50 Max Dmg Dragon Scythes. Anyone WTB? Kekeke.

Winstar

Winstar

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

London

Quote:
Originally Posted by Loshi
Yeah, I tried this today, after 2 runs went:
WAIT ONE SEC! I'm not using any kickass stances...

Why the bloody hell do I have junk in Tactics?

I switched it over and pumped Swordie and Str, and it worked _gloriously_

Thanks a ton, I got a set of Gold 14^50 Max Dmg Dragon Scythes. Anyone WTB? Kekeke. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was too lazy to get the str shield and thats why i have the junk in tactics

You're completely right that it would probably work more smoothly with more in str and swd. I'll have to run over to K-Center and make the purchase. I'm glad to see its working out for people.

Winstar

Winstar

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

London

Just thought I would mention that I finally got a drop of the green...pic at top

cheers

pdprift

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2005

shadow warriors

W/Mo

question.. where's the collector for mantis?

Tonepalu

Academy Page

Join Date: Apr 2006

Theres a new stance in Maatu Keep(maybe other places as well...havent checked) called Tiger Stance. Increases attack speed 33% for up to 9 seconds with 12 strength(Warrior skill), downside is it ends if you miss/get blocked/ or evaded, just thinking it mgiht be better than Flurry or Frenzy if the Mantis's don't block like crazy

Winstar

Winstar

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

London

I thought about using tiger stance, and in general i like it, but I used flurry because on the build (1) I was initially using a tactics linked stance shield (the old collectores one) which I wanted the +45 and -2 up all the time and (2) in the build I was working with I wanted to provide a more constant stream of healing while attacking to conteract the massive degen that u are facing. I'm always afraid of frenzy while farming because of my tendacny to be safe, and tiger stance as you noted is going to be down for a chunk of time. But it could very well be that that it decreases the time that it takes to kill in which case that might take some of the pressure off you for healing. Cheers.

Sewers

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Dec 2005

CrimsonGuard

W/N

You can get a Strength linked Stance shield with the same stats: +45 and -2 at Saint Anjeka's Shrine. Talk to the collector Guard Captain Mirkoz, he will want 5 dredge incises

Tonepalu

Academy Page

Join Date: Apr 2006

I tried it out using Tiger Stance, Dolyaks Signet, Sever Artery, Gash, Healing Hands, Vigorous Spirit, Balthazars Spirit and Live Vicariously. Surprisingly enough I kill the assassin boss in no time. But I do like the way that W/R build is setup lol, trying that next

Arkantos

Arkantos

The Greatest

Join Date: Feb 2006

W/

Nice build, works nicely Of course I havent made it to the assassin boss yet....damn overlapping patrols

Ville

Academy Page

Join Date: May 2006

Dream world.

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bloody Death
Nice build, works nicely Of course I havent made it to the assassin boss yet....damn overlapping patrols Use a bow to pull them to a safe location where you can finish them off without accidentally aggroing those patrols ;o

lordgambit

Academy Page

Join Date: May 2006

The Gods Favor [US]

is there a way to replace healing hands with another elite (for cantha warriors), I still dont have perdition rock and havent seen one smiliar in cantha?

Am not in front of a computer I can test and i liked the build, cant wait to try an alternative (really dont feel like getting to perdition rock)....

Winstar

Winstar

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

London

Someone posted earlier that they were using w/r and troll ungent, but i haven't tried that yet. If you are going w/m, you might try breeze, or vig spirit, or mending, etc. Not sure how well that would work. If the healing worked out you could go with an elite for extra damage or the new elite stance to charge up adren and soak up damage. Sorry I don't recall the names...

I-Lord-Osiris-I

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

Godz Army [Godz]

W/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by leonidasthe
You can make a shield in Kaineng Center. It requires iron and steel. The mods are +30 health -5 damage received (20% chance). You can get either a strength or tactics shield. Strength Shield correct?
1) If this is an assassin boss and he blinds like the others do, I would use...
Tanzit Defender, which is 16 Armor, 9 Str Req. and reduces blind by 20%
2) If he dosnt blind I'd go with the Bronze Shield 9 str req. -5 (20% Chance) at Keieng Center trader.
3) If your using stance moves, Use a Victo Bulwark, it has been proven that bulwark with -2 (stance) is better than -5 (20% Chance).

ReFragged

ReFragged

Academy Page

Join Date: Jan 2006

The Netherlands

none atm:D

Mo/

cool build

God's Will

God's Will

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2005

Rogues of Bastion

R/E

What dye combination are you using on your armor? and is that 1.5 or 15k. I think 15k dyes better.

Stee Janz

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2006

Midwest

Council of Paranor,

W/Mo

Healing prayers 10
Stength 14
swordsmanship 12

sever artery
silverwing slash
galrath slash
rush
dolyak
i will survive
Healing hands
live vicarously

I find that groups of 5 or less i can handle...as long as there are not 2 mesmers. Its a fun farm. I have no trouble what so ever. I got the daggers after 5 runs. Much better then the farm outside Senji's corner for the Green talon daggers. These daggers are better then those as well.

P.S. I hate to completely copy someone's build

Update: I got them on the 6th farm as well....Holy crap ...anyone wanna buy some daggers

Winstar

Winstar

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

London

2 Pincers! I've gotten one pair in n runs where n is large...but i did finally get the brightclaw as well. Picture soon.

The armour in my avatar is actually undyed 15k Tyrian. The armour in the pics is 15k Kurzick...also undyed at the time though I have recently changed that.

Maldibion

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2005

Project Zenora [zEn]

W/

I tried the posted build but has some troubles with it, especially the dream weavers.

I would be doing fine against the dw and a hunter and then pop, be spiked to death. This was because of Fragility. A solution I found was to bring dun dun dun, one of the crappiest skills ever! Shield Bash. Through that up and the assasins are screwed, the can't do anything but normal attack. If you catch their lead attack with it you are golden, they are smart enough not to use another attack.

I also replaced galrath (or silverwing) with final thrust , it finishes enemies off really quickly.

I've been farming yesterday and today and so far I've got 6 greens, ~8 golds (mostly crap except a PERFECT!!!! Sundering Gothic axe of Fortitude ) and I've collected about 80k gold by selling the crap and only selling one set of the green daggers for 30k.

It is a GREAT run and VERY challenging and best of all, the loot is definatly worth it.


PS: Anet plz don't nerf it!!!!! I heart Mantises!

Arutima

Arutima

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2006

Canada

R/

mantis claws salvage into shells..... so ..if you get a lot of them .. you better off salvaging them ..

dmikoda

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

TSM

W/Me

.... can one of u show me???
whisper me
Ko R E A N

Winstar

Winstar

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

London

Quote:
Originally Posted by Maldibion
I tried the posted build but has some troubles with it, especially the dream weavers.

I would be doing fine against the dw and a hunter and then pop, be spiked to death. This was because of Fragility. A solution I found was to bring dun dun dun, one of the crappiest skills ever! Shield Bash. Through that up and the assasins are screwed, the can't do anything but normal attack. If you catch their lead attack with it you are golden, they are smart enough not to use another attack.

I also replaced galrath (or silverwing) with final thrust , it finishes enemies off really quickly.

I've been farming yesterday and today and so far I've got 6 greens, ~8 golds (mostly crap except a PERFECT!!!! Sundering Gothic axe of Fortitude ) and I've collected about 80k gold by selling the crap and only selling one set of the green daggers for 30k.

It is a GREAT run and VERY challenging and best of all, the loot is definatly worth it.


PS: Anet plz don't nerf it!!!!! I heart Mantises! Final Thrust is a good move, though the double Galrath has always worked fine for me as well. The Dreamweavers are a rough when you have deep wound, bleeding, and -11 from hex conditions on you, but even then I find that I rarely die. I always dip into the 100 health range, but I find that I can survive when healing hands is down with flurry+live vicariously until hands comes back online. This might be a good reason to use something other than a 15^50 sword here as your health is frequently below that. +15 enchanted is the best since, well, you are always enchanted.

I've made 100k from these runs off the greens alone. Not to mention all the mantis pincers, occasional gold drops, money drops, and other random good things like black dye and rare materials. Also, always bring some keys along for the chests you run into.

Melendru's is a big place, and I find you can also take this build across the river and beat up on the dredge. You can take groups of 4 or 5 easily. Kill the gardeners first if the are any and after that it doesn't really matter though killing the archers might be useful to end the poison.

Thanks for the input!

Spook_Cell

Academy Page

Join Date: Jan 2006

Do you have to see the -3 vamp effect for him to drop it or does it not show up when he hits you?

Maldibion

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2005

Project Zenora [zEn]

W/

The thing is, when you have shield bash, you don't get bleeding on you, and only deepwound from that mesmer skill.

So far I'm up to 150k. I've sold 2 sets of green daggers, 3 brightclawws and 2 Byzzr's Benedictions. I've also got a PERFECT Runic axe now its so cool looking and have given a perfect vamp longbow and a pair of the green daggers to guildies. Although the drops basically stopped for me so I need to take a break, now I just need 70 more amber to get my 15k Kurz.

I've started to try to work on the dredge too, but they are a pain. I've tried the other guys too, but the dragon moss uses blurred vision wich roally screws over your live vicariously.

ibex333

ibex333

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

Brooklyn, NY

[EYE]

Rt/A

Can all this be done with a 55 monk??

Spook_Cell

Academy Page

Join Date: Jan 2006

No, massive degen from hexes.

Maldibion

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2005

Project Zenora [zEn]

W/

It is impossible with a 55 (thank the gods). The mesmers put up -10+ degen on you for long periods of time with multiply hexes and then deep wound you.

chessyang

chessyang

Not far from Elite

Join Date: Apr 2006

Florida

W/

Winstar,

could you put an E in front of Healing hands? sorry to be a butt.

I was looking around for it and didn't know it was an elite skill on wiki.

Besides that i love the build after the first 5 so deaths i got the hang of it and almost cleared the area. THank you for sharing this build.

I"ll post some pictures later.

Mournblade

Mournblade

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: May 2005

Houston, Texas

Dawn Treaders [DAWN]

W/Mo

Someone wish me luck or something. I've killed the the two mantis bosses at least 10 times (over the course of a week to keep it fresh) and don't even get a gold drop, let alone a green. *sulks*