I am working on a solo farming build, without being a monk primary or secondary (I don’t mean to offend those who have monk farming builds – kudos to you; it’s just not for me). To tell the truth, I chose my class combo, as they were the two classes I hadn’t played and unlocked skills for yet. Thus, this pertains to my el/n.
So, after earning, buying, and capping all the skills I wanted, my initial aspirations were to use earth magic (built around earthquake and aftershock), and curses (suffering and feast of corruption). However, this did not prove to give the results I wanted, as the eq/as combo didn’t do the damage I wanted, and had too long of recharge. Also, I found that FoC didn’t do enough when it needed to. A short stint into blood magic for unholy feast did not prove fruitful, either. When these ideas did not come together, I progressed with the storyline, until a brainstorming session yesterday.
Last night, I broke out my new build, and was successfully soloing Henge trolls and desert griffons/minotaurs. I only spent about an hour so in these locations, but was successfully taking on groups of 8-10 griffs/mino’s and even more trolls. Here’s my build:
Earth magic: 14 (10+1+3)
Fire magic : 13 (12+1)
Energy storage: 9 (8+1)
Goligard’s Stone staff, along with Droknar’s pyromancer armor and a major vigor rune
Skills: pretty much used in this order
1. aura of restoration – self heal doing 300+% of mana cost
2. elemental attunement – essentially makes all skills cost half mana (but still register as full cost for AoR healing)
3. armor of earth -- + 58 armor = well under half normal damage taken
4. eruption – good aoe damage, and 10 seconds of blindness cover
5. lava font – spamable, good damage
6. flame burst – spamable, good damage, quick cast
7. meteor shower – high damage, knockdown
8. kinetic armor/aftershock -- + 70ish armor or tradeoff for more damage
As you can see, this centers around good defense and aura of restoration, while taking out groups fast, under the cover of blindness and knockdown (and spaming lava font and flame burst for damage and healing). I’m currently playing around with the 8th spot, and have had success both ways (though for UW, I suspect kinetic armor will be needed). I find it an equal tradeoff between taking less damage, but having to do so longer, and taking more damage, but being able to drop groups faster, while they’re blind/kd (aftershock + meteor shower = BAM)
I realize that this is probably not that unique of a build (if I came up with it, many other smarter people probably have, too). I’m looking for feedback from the more seasoned farmers out there, as I have only about 2-2.5 hours of total farming experience. My current concern is in aggroing. I find that I can tank groups of 8-10 fine, and would expect to be able to take on more. However, I find it difficult to accumulate these groups. The griffons are fast enough that I start taking hits while still trying to pick up more. I can’t use an armor skill here, as earth just slows me more, and kinetic would only give me 8 seconds before having to cast again (casting = stopping = damage if I’m not doing my full attack). So, should I consider a speed/run skill? If so, what should it replace? If I put it in slot 8, that might not work, as if I can agro much larger groups, I may prove to need the kinetic armor…. See the problem? Any constructive criticism on this matter or on the build in general will be appreciated.
Also, I’m looking for help on where to test my build. In addition to the two locations above, I will be trying UW at some point (though not until I get more practice). I realize that people don’t want to share their secret spots, and that’s not what I’m asking for (though if you want to pm me, I’d gladly read your messages). Instead, I’m asking for what the typical “proving grounds” are. Where can I go to find the tough mobs that will test and prove my build? Thanks for the feedback, and let’s avoid the flame/trolling.
edit: btw, does the 24 hour post rule count in this thread (i.e., is it for the whole forums)?
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