Build talk:A/E Sliver UW Farmer

Testing
In my opinion it's on par with the W/Me build in terms of difficulty, and a little bit slower. It's crucial to have the recommended equipment, but with ecto being ~12k it quickly becomes profitable. Didn't think it would work, but it does, and here it is, yay ! Feydslynox (talk) 18:22, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Cool stuff. I'd be tempted to run Ele primary personally, and use heroes to get to waste. How does this work against skeles? TBH you can spike smites quite quickly with ele skills, I was running something like this a couple weeks ago:

[build prof=E/Any fire=12+1+3 earth=10+3 energy=8+1][Lava Font][meteor][aftershock][inferno][optional][aura of restoration][Stoneflesh Aura][Elemental Attunement][/build]
 * And this could probably be improved as well (maybe different elite, and add something to speed up skeleton kills). The idea that a build needs to solo graspings seems to be an unnecessary constraint imo. User100425457 (talk) 13:16, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
 * A glance at GWW suggests to me that the Graspings don't drop Ecto anyway, so if it's quicker to kill with heroes it might make sense to bring them. Ofc all your gold drops will be reduced even if they're off-screen and not stealing your glorious ecto loot. - Chieftain Alex (talk) 22:18, 18 August 2020 (UTC)
 * This is a very interesting question. Tbh in my younger days, I was really obssessed by the Smite run, as it was a great and fun way to make money. Skeletons of Dhuum (and other Grasping pops) had not yet been added, but you were limited to henchies, then only 3 heroes. This pretty much meant that the Smite run, at the time, was a solo run, and nothing else. Builds were tailored for a solo run, and multiple professions could do it. Lots of builds in the Archive were made with this in mind. Then the Skeletons were added to the UW, and the run made harder. This was the death knell for a lot of builds, and most of them were archived after that (except really strong builds like the W/Me, bless this thing forever). But for most of them, the Smite part was still fine.
 * What I'm trying to say (sorry for the rambling ^_^) is that Smites, by themselves, are not that threatening. Their damage output isn't that great, they don't interrupt, they don't KD except on attack. With the advent of 7 heroes team, yes, you can clear the Chamber and get to the Ice Wastes with relative ease. That means that, as of now, you can farm the Ice Wastes with builds tailored for the Smite part, which was impossible at the time. With this in mind, I would not be surprised if every profession can now farm the Smites (yes, even Paras). 100425457, as an Elementalist for example, the old Sandstorm E/Me should still work like a charm against Smites. The old Rt/W Splinter Cyclone should also still annihilate the Smites in seconds, etc etc...
 * This means we have a problem. The "oldschool" 100% solo approach has an advantage, because if your character does not have access to heroes (or has only a few crappy ones), you can still farm the Smites. It means you can create characters only for Smite farming and not bother with heroes. But it's harder, and it excludes some professions. If going for an "every class can do this with heroes" approach, and I'm not opposed to this either, there might be a lot of build necromancy, or a lot of new pages created. This could be an issue. What might be a good compromise in my opinion, is having the 100% solo builds stay in the build namespace or in the Archive where they are currently, and having something like a "Any/Any Hero Assisted Smite Farmer" page with builds tailored only for Smite farming for every profession. Just my 2 cents. Feydslynox (talk) 08:04, 19 August 2020 (UTC)


 * You also have to think of the efficiency. Good example is vaettir farming: sure, you can do it on a paragon, but it's so slow compared to other professions, it's just not worth mentioning. If people cba to gather right heroes, then that's on them, otherwise we might as well come up with farms that only use half a skill bar (cause pve skills are "inaccessible"?). ZStepmother (talk) 15:23, 19 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Skeletons may be the biggest barrier-to-entry for this farm. Especially near the monument of grenth in wastes, skeleton patrols can be tricky to manage, especially with coldfire patrols. A build which can kill smites quickly, but also handle skeletons gracefully would be ideal. As far as heroes-vs-no-heroes, total farm time is probably the best metric at the end of the day. Gold drops are nice, but it's quite rare to get a valuable gold item from UW. If for example the Mo/A build can get to wastes just as fast as a hero team, then no need for heroes. If heroes can enable builds which outperform Mo/A's wastes performance, then heroes make sense. One thing that could be helpful is a recommended hero setup for getting to wastes (assuming we can find builds which compete with Mo/A). Most setups work, but some tweaks can make a big difference in time. User100425457 (talk) 18:08, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

Mainbar profession
Okay, imo those three professions (Ranger, Assassin, Elementalist) are the only ones where this build makes sense (Dervish probably also works but VoS is just a better choice) but I'm not sure which one is the most efficient here. Anyway, having both solo and hero-assisted options on the page for each build is probably the better compromise.

Assassin might be the stronger of the three. Perma Dark Escape is great and when playing solo the run can be done faster than the other two with your 48 sec IMS. Also when using a hero-assisted bar facing Skeletons with Shroud of Distress@16 really helps. Ranger has better e-management and a slightly better trap but no Dark Escape/SoD and Elementalist has stronger damage but is riskier due to the lower armor. I'll keep testing and will time my runs to see which one comes out on top. Feydslynox (talk) 07:37, 12 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Assassin is definitely the best profession here. The run is faster, it is the safest profession of the three and with EVAS mainbar, Skeletons can be taken on even with the solo build. Moving the page. Feydslynox (talk) 16:11, 14 September 2020 (UTC)
 * RE: my vote. Could you post a video in case I am missing the proper usage? Also, what modifications, if any, can be made to speed up wastes performance if a hero team is used? Also, I have the same question for Build:Me/A_Illusionary_Weaponry_UW_Farmer. One limitation is the number of smites which can be tanked. For the most part, 5 enemy sized groups and less is normal, but there are times when smite groups clump up close together. So yea, a video and some recommendations for hero-based modifications might help me understand the builds a bit more. Us3r1OO425457 (talk) 15:14, 24 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Sorry I'm not into videos, maybe Mozo if he sees this :(
 * Anyway it's really straightforward (especially if you use heroes), and it can be sped up by replacing the skills used for Graspings by things like LoD/Aftershock/etc. Having two options for solo or team assisted runs is fine imo, team assisted runs will be faster but you won't get the coins. As long as both are offered and the player decides for me it's k, but I understand if this is considered a relic of the past.
 * In my opinion the Sin and Ranger bars, while not especially fast, do not deserve to be trashed, because they're not that bad compared to other professions, can reliably dispatch Skeles and I also think they might be the only option for those professions to farm Smites. If a stronger build emerges for those profs, then disregard what I just said.
 * Well, those two bars are a bit slower than the Warrior and Monk but I think they're still competitive especially with ecto being ~16k. It's a bit like the Vaettir builds when we have the Dervish build who reigns supreme in terms of speed, but decent alternatives for other professions are still offered if you don't have a Dervish. Oh and IIRC the Ranger build can tank multiple Smites groups (test needed to confirm this).
 * About the Mesmer build, it's a bit different because... well I always loved loved loved IW and the gameplay associated with it and this was at first an experiment. It works and it's played like a slow Warrior. It's possible to solo skeletons as well if you use your heroes to clear the chamber and take Ether Feast or something else (see the second bar). It was at first a gimmick, but it allows Mesmers to farm Smites and... IW <3 !
 * Overall, I personally think those builds have some merits, they are not the builds I'm the most proud of (i love this one so much) but if their destiny is to get binned, so be it, I trust the community's judgment. Feydslynox (talk) 21:19, 11 December 2020 (UTC)

(reset) Plans change... here ( https://streamable.com/tcculn ) is a short vid demonstrating the run and how the build works against Smites and Skeles. Used the Ranger variant but all three builds are basically the same. Feydslynox (talk) 08:20, 4 May 2021 (UTC)
 * The GoR+EVAS combo was a pretty nice way to take down a skele. I suppose it required some kiting but that should be ok. When kiting from skeletons, sometimes other patrols can get aggroed or nightmares can pop, so maybe just a matter of being careful. Still can use wall blocking when possible. The smite kills do seem a little slow, so that may be my biggest concern. If the philosophy is that each profession can have a smite farming build, this build looks like a good option (at least, I haven't seen any other R or A bars which can compete). Also, the Turai's Procession Margonite Farm looks pretty neat man, would love to give that a try sometime. Us3r1OO425457 (talk)
 * Thanks ! When playing with heroes, using Snow Storm and Aftershock significantly speeds up the run (-30 secs on each smite group). Added those two skills as optionals, cleaned up the page a little bit.
 * Yeah, GoR + 3xEVAS is just so fun (skele goes boom!), in fact with ~35 mana you can just stand still and chain EVAS without taking much damage. As you said, you just need to be careful with patrols before spiking the skeleton. Here is how the variant with heroes plays (it's really faster!) with again one skele and one smite group being killed : https://streamable.com/0w6nie Feydslynox (talk) 11:54, 10 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Very nice! That variant does seem to speed up smite kills quite a bit. Also, thanks for clarifying about the skele spike. So at 35 mana you can just "tank" a skele - and its a very fast spike. Us3r1OO425457 (talk) 23:53, 11 May 2021 (UTC)