Build:A/D FoW Farmer

The PvXwiki community finds this to be a good build. This build has received an overall rating in the range from 3.75 to < 4.75 and thus qualifies for the lower category of working builds: Good. This build has been designed for the following use: PvE farming

This build uses Shadow Form and Scythe attacks to farm multiple zones of the Fissure of Woe for Obsidian Shards.

Attributes and Skills

Assassin / Dervish 12 + 1 + 3 Shadow Arts 8 + 1 Critical Strikes 10 Scythe Mastery 2 Deadly Arts You have an additional 9% chance to critical hit. Whenever you critical hit, you get 2 Energy. Deadly Paradox NightfallAssassin. Deadly Arts 2Deadly ParadoxStanceAll of your attack Skills are disabled for 10 seconds. For 6 seconds, your Assassin Skills activate and recharge 33% faster.1510 Shadow Form FactionsAssassin. Shadow Arts 16Shadow FormElite Enchantment SpellFor 22 seconds, you cannot be the target of enemy Spells, and you gain 5 damage reduction for each Assassin enchantment on you. You cannot deal more than 26 damage with a single skill or attack.5130 Shroud of Distress FactionsAssassin. Shadow Arts 16Shroud of DistressEnchantment SpellFor 62 seconds, if you are below 50% Health, you have 8 health regeneration and a 75% chance to block attacks.10145 Critical Agility NightfallAssassin. Sunspear rank Critical AgilityEnchantment SpellFor 4 seconds and 1 second for each rank of Critical Strikes you attack 33% faster and gain 10..25 armor. This Skill reapplies itself every time you land a critical hit. PvE only.5130 Optional CoreNo Profession. UnlinkedOptionalOptionalOptional. Optional CoreNo Profession. UnlinkedOptionalOptionalOptional. Optional CoreNo Profession. UnlinkedOptionalOptionalOptional. Dash FactionsAssassin. UnlinkedDashStanceFor 3 seconds, you run 50% faster.58   Template code

Optional skills :

-> Offensive options

• Chilling VictoryNightfallDervish. Scythe Mastery Chilling VictoryScythe AttackIf it hits, this attack strikes for +3..13..16 damage. For each foe hit who has less Health than you, that foe and all adjacent foes are struck for 10..26..31 cold damage.6 - damage.
• Victorious SweepNightfallDervish. Scythe Mastery Victorious SweepMelee AttackIf this attack hits, you deal +5..21..26 damage. If the target foe has less Health than you, you gain 30..70..83 Health.54 - damage and massive healing if condition is met.
• Crippling VictoryEotNDervish. Scythe Mastery Crippling VictoryScythe AttackIf this attack hits a foe, that foe is Crippled for 3..7..8 seconds. If you have more Health than target foe, all adjacent foes take 10..26..31 earth damage.6 + Reap ImpuritiesNightfallDervish. Scythe Mastery Reap ImpuritiesMelee AttackIf this attack hits, you deal +3..13..16 damage. Each foe you hit loses 1 condition. For each foe who loses a condition, all foes adjacent to that target foe take 10..34..42 holy damage.5 - big spike but suffers from SF damage cap.
• Radiant ScytheEotNDervish. Scythe Mastery Radiant ScytheScythe AttackThis attack strikes for +1 damage for each point of Energy you currently have, maximum 5..25..32 damage. You gain 1..6..7 Energy if this attack hits.6 - energy management.
• Sand ShardsNightfallDervish. Earth Prayers 6Sand ShardsFlash Enchantment SpellFor 30 seconds, the next 3 times you hit with a scythe, all other adjacent foes take 30 earth damage.1010 - hits hard but energy intensive (drop one point of Critical Strikes and Scythe Mastery).

-> Defensive options

• "You Are All Weaklings!"EotNNo Profession. Norn rank "You Are All Weaklings!"ShoutTarget foe and foes adjacent to target are Weakened for 8..12 seconds.
  PvE only.512 - massively reduces enemy physical damage.
• "I Am Unstoppable!"EotNNo Profession. Norn rank "I Am Unstoppable!"ShoutFor 16..20 seconds, you have +24 armor and cannot be knocked down or Crippled.
  PvE only.530 - armor boost stacking with Critical Agility, counters cripple and knockdowns.

-> Utility

• Asuran ScanEotNNo Profession. Asura rank Asuran ScanHex SpellFor 9..12 seconds your attacks cannot miss target foe. Killing a foe hexed with Asuran scan removes 5% death penalty.
  PvE only.55 - counters blindness.
• Signet of Mystic SpeedEotNDervish. Wind Prayers 4Signet of Mystic SpeedSignetFor 30 seconds, your next 2 self-targeting enchantments cast instantly. Flash enchantments do not consume uses of this skill.120 - counters interrupts (drop one point of either Critical Strikes or Scythe Mastery).

Equipment

Armor

• Blessed Insignias.
• Rune of Superior Vigor + Runes of either Vitae or Attunement.

Weapons

• A q9 +15% w/enchanted Zealous Scythe of Enchanting.
• +5 energy Longbow of Enchanting (for pulling).
• High energy Staff of Enchanting in case of emergency.

Usage

• Enter FoW, don't take any quests.
• To navigate the FoW, maintain Shadow Form and Shroud of Distress. Use Dash to lose enemy aggro.

Area-specific Tactics

• You'll need to calibrate your build for the foes you're going to face. Choose your optional skills wisely.
• Proceed slowly if not familiar with the FoW. Learning enemy patrols is important.

Shadow Army

• You can't really kill Shadow Army mobs, except small ones without Monks, Rangers or Warriors. In practice you'll basically only kill the group guarding the pass to the battlefield.

Forest

• Farming the whole Forest safely is possible. Main threat here is Lightning Touch, as it will go through Shadow Form, blinding you. You'll need Asuran Scan and some defensive optionals to survive.
• Enter by the very small entrance north of the Great Battle Field, don't overaggro, beware of Rock Borer Worms and Skeletal Impaler pops.
• Do not try to kill the small mob of skeletons near the bridge, it's risky and not worth it. Once the first half of the Forest is cleared, just run through the skeletons guarding the bridge (do not cross it!) with all your defensive skills up to counter enemy traps.
• Once on the other side of the Forest, pull and kill the Plants/Spiders, beware of overlapping Spirit Shepherd patrols. The build plays exactly like the Dervish Vow of Silence farmer.
• Here is an example of a Forest-capable build :

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Battlefield

• Farming Skeleton groups without Monks or Warriors is possible. Other groups are to be avoided.
• You'll have to look for groups composed of only Skeletal Ether Breakers and Skeletal Icehands. There is one guarding the entrance from the starting area, one guarding the Forest of the Wailing Lord entrance, one guarding the Burning Forest entrance and one in the middle of the area.
  • Main threat here is also Lightning Touch so a build capable of farming the Forest will also be able to easily dispatch those four caster-only skeleton groups. In fact while going for a Forest run, it is pretty much always worth it to kill the group guarding the starting area's entrance and the group guarding the Forest of the Wailing Lord's entrance.
• Avoid Skeletal Impalers and their traps.

Beach

• Beach is an extremely easy zone to farm, with Shadow Form you're virtually impervious to any threat from Dryders or Skales.
• Super offensive builds will work here, making Beach-only runs quite fast.
  • However those builds will not be able to farm anywhere else in the FoW. As such, you might prefer slower builds capable of farming elsewhere after the Beach is cleared.
• Only Snarling Driftwoods are worth killing, as they are the only ones dropping Shards on the Beach.

Cave

• Cave is tricky as Armored Cave Spiders have Savage Shot and hit relatively hard. On the plus side, Shadow Form completely owns dryders.
• Signet of Mystic Speed is especially good here, as Armored Cave Spiders will not interrupt it.
• Three dryders will be guarding the waterfall, aggro the one in the middle with your longbow so two of them will move towards you.
• Kill those two dryders away from the waterfall. Walk in the third one's aggro range, back away. Lots of Spiders will spawn.
• Pull Spiders away from the huge group, having them always pulled by groups of 3, on top of each other so your scythe attacks hit the three spiders at the same time (interrupting Healing Spring in the process).
• Kill the last dryder, enter the cave proper.
  • Inside the Cave, kill a dryder, kill the two groups of three Spiders associated with it, repeat for the whole Cave.
  • It is possible to safely tank those six spiders while killing the dryders.
• Here is an example of a Cave-capable build :

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Notes

• As the Beach has only very few foes dropping Shards (Snarling Driftwoods), if you go for Beach-only runs it is recommended to do so only during Pantheon Bonus Week.

See also

• A/D Plains Farmer