Build:Rt/Me SoS Forest Farmer

The PvXwiki community finds this to be an excellent build. If you disagree with this rating, please discuss it on the build's talk page. This build has been designed for the following use: PvE farming

Uses Signet of Spirits coupled with two binding rituals to farm the Forest of the Wailing Lord in the Fissure of Woe for Obsidian Shards.

Attributes and Skills

<pvxbig> [build prof=Rt/Me Channel=12+1+3 Insp=12 Resto=3][Elemental Resistance][Mantra of Frost][optional][Spirit Light][Bloodsong][Vampirism][Painful Bond][Signet of Spirits][/build] </pvxbig>

Equipment

• Armor:
  • Use maximum AL.
  • Full Survivor's Insignias.
  • Runes of Vitae and the best Rune of Vigor you can afford.
• Weapons:
  • A shield with damage -2 while in a stance, such as Grognar's Defender or Havok's Shield. This will be your running shield. You can use any weapon to go along with this shield.
  • Any longbow, although a bow with a +5 energy mod would be optimal.

Usage

Running To The Forest

• Be sure you're equipped with your running shield.
• In order to get to the forest in Fissure of Woe, you'll need to do a couple things. First off, when you first enter FoW, back up to the wall. This will (almost) ensure that you don't aggro the Shadow Army and get Rastigan the Eternal killed, thus kicking you back to your port of entry. Now, you'll need to run to the right, staying along the back wall. You will more than likely aggro the shadow army closest to you on the right - make sure to cast Vampirism. This will help you get past them and if you keep going along the wall, you will just barely miss aggro'ing another group of 3 from the shadow army. After this you'll need to leave the wall and run to the left, behind the 3 shadows and towards what looks like an open spot. Be careful as many patrols are close by, and it is advised not to aggro them.

• After you have run a little ways, you will be on a plateau in between 2 valleys. Stay on the plateau all the way until it ends. Near the end, a Shadow Beast will appear. Continue running straight until you hit a large cliff wall. Stop here (as long as no monsters are following you) and heal. After you get here, turn right and run along the wall until it bears off to the left. There is a little straight here that you will want to take. You will most likely aggro another group here, but Drunken Master should be able to outrun them. Run along the wall again until it juts out to the right. Now comes the tricky part. The 3 shadows up ahead aren't as big a deal as the skeletons at the bottom of the hill to your right. If these two groups are far apart, you may be able to run through the shadows and by keeping left, reach a very tiny ledge that will allow you to rest before taking on the skeletons. If not, you will need to try and aggro the skeletons into the shadows, as they will fight each other, letting you get away. To do this, run towards the skeletons at normal speed. Shoot one of them with an arrow (using your longbow), in order to aggro them, then draw them up the hill, running with your run skill activated. This is crucial because if you stay within range of the spell caster in their group, you could be hit with Deep Freeze, and not being able to move in this part of the run equals a long walk off a short pier. Once they start fighting or you have run around the skeletons, stay left, hugging the wall at the bottom of the hill. Here you can rest again, letting everything recharge and waiting for a patrol of skeletons to separate from the larger group ahead of you. You can either try and stay on the wall, sneaking past the larger group; or you can wait for the patrol to leave, and run around the skeletons. It really depends on how they spawn. Either way, once you are past that group, you are effectively in the forest.

Fighting in the Forest

• For most enemies maintain Elemental Resistance, and spam spirits, recasting them and healing yourself as needed. Use Painful Bond as needed.
• When you see a group of Spirit Shepherds approaching,use Painful Bond, and 'immediately back far up, or they will cast spells on you. Keep Mantra of Lightning up at all times when Spirit Shepherds are aggroed. Spirit Shepherds will attack at long range (the same range as your spirits), out of range of their spells.
• Once you've backed up, cast Bloodsong, Vampirism, and Signet of Spirits. Your spirits will kill the Spirit Shepherds with their attacks, and you you should get healed by Vampirism. If you need to be healed more, use Spirit Light. Recast your spirits if they die, but do not recast Painful Bond if the Spirit Shepherds are not dead by the end of one cycle.
• Once you've cleared the first half of The Forest of the Wailing Lord (everything before the skeletons in front of the bridge), it's possible to move onto the second half of the forest in two ways:

1. Kill the skeletons in front of the bridge.
2. Run around the battlefield and use the other entrance to the forest.

• Running around the battlefield to the other entrance is easy enough, so I'm going to tell you how to kill the skeletons in front of the bridge. There will be two groups of two Skeletal Berserkers. Before aggravating the first group of Skeletal Berserkers, set up your spirits. When you set them up, spread them out. Skeletal Berserkers have Cyclone Axe which can destroy your spirits in an instant if they're not spread out properly. Once you've set up your spirits and they are spread out, aggro the Skeletal Berserkers with your longbow and run around a bit. Skeletal Berserkers don't like having to chase you around, and will go for your spirits instead. Your spirits will die fast when being attacked by Skeletal Berserkers, but you will have enough time to set them up again before you are attacked. Once the Skeletal Berserkers are dead, you have to pop a Skeletal Impaler and take it out. There will be a second group of Skeletal Berserkers in front of the bridge. Do not aggravate them. On your compass, go close enough so that your aggro circle is just touching the red dots that are Skeletal Berserkers, without aggravating them. This should pop a Skeletal Impaler. Just pull it a bit farther back and kill it with your spirits. It should be easy. Rinse and repeat for the next group of Skeletal Berserkers. If the Skeletal Berserkers end up attacking you, be sure to try and maintain Physical Resistance as often as possible. Skeletal Berserkers use the skill Wild Blow which removes Physical Resistance, so try and activate Physical Resistance after they use Wild Blow. Although this method is tricky and takes some time to learn, you have an additional chance of getting Obsidian Shards and a rare chance of getting a Chaos Axe.

Counters

• Not watching energy when Primal Echoes is in effect.
• Not maintaining necessary stances at correct times.
• Incorrect aggro that allows Spirit Shepherds to cast spells on you.

Variants

There is a Mesmer variant to the build: <pvxbig> [build prof=Me/Rt Channel=12 Insp=11+1+1 Resto=6][Physical Resistance][Mantra of Lightning][Drunken Master][Spirit Light][Bloodsong][Vampirism][Painful Bond][Signet of Spirits][/build] </pvxbig>

• There is less damage, but it gets the job done.

Notes

• Your spirits have long range attack, so they won't have any spells cast on them by Spirit Shepherds.

See Also

• These videos use a variant of this build without Painful Bond, but with the binding ritual Pain:
  • Video demonstration - Youtube, low quality, streaming.
  • Mesmer variant - Youtube, low quality, streaming.