In addition, to anyone who questions the validity of such a guide in this stage of the game, I urge you to do the run as often as I and not be whispered at least once by someone asking for help.
So, before the tips begin, let me just provide skills that we will be using so as not to confuse anyone, and so everyone knows what I am talking about when I reference a particular skill. Also, when I need to reference more than one skill, I'll use numbers, with 1 being Sandstorm and 8 being Stoneflesh.
[skill]Sandstorm[/skill][skill]Dragon's Stomp[/skill][skill]Aftershock[/skill][skill]Ancestor's Visage[/skill][skill]Storm Djinn's Haste[/skill][skill]Mantra Of Earth[/skill][skill]Stone Striker[/skill][skill]Stoneflesh Aura[/skill]
As long as you have a Superior Earth Magic rune and a +20% Enchant weapon, the rest of your gear really doesn't matter (although I assume you have max armour).
Now the basics are out the way, I shall present my tips to you by way of answers to what I assume could potentially be frequently asked questions.
Q: Ok, I'm in UW, what now?
A: I'm not going to walk you step by step through the farm. Other people have done that already. Search for "Terra Tank" and the original build should come up (or at least some discussion on it).
Q: Argh! The Graspings keep interrupting me! I die as soon as Stoneflesh runs out
A: This is a common complaint, I imagine because the guide on PvX hasn't been updated to take into account all the nerfs that have affected the skills over the years. My method is thus:
1. Stand at the bottom of one flight of stairs, check for Dying Nightmares, check you're not targeting the Lost Soul (happens more than you can imagine), cast 6, 7, 8, then 5, run up and aggro a group of Graspings, TURN AROUND and run back to the middle.
2. Hopefully the Aataxes will have lost aggro and returned to their start point. If not, keep running till they do.
3. Now the tricky part. You have to watch very carefully for the flashes that occur when the Grasping uses its interrupt. You should be aware of how many are in the group (if you aren't, there are 4 in the left-most group, and 3 in the other two groups). HOWEVER, it is often the case that one of them used their interrupt when chasing you, and you didn't see it. If this is the case, and all but one of them has used their interrupt when there is approx. 25% of the recharge time on Stoneflesh remaining, cast Ancestor's Visage anyway. If it gets interrupted it isn't the end of the world.
4. Assuming you got Ancestor's Visage up (go to point 5 if you didn't), IMMEDIATELY cast Sandstorm, then recast Stoneflesh. My method here is to count four hits of Sandstorm before I cast Dragon's Stomp. This generally ensures that they all die when hit by Aftershock. If any life, wand them to death.
5. Ok, so you didn't get Visage up. Cast Stoneflesh as soon as possible, as that is all that is keeping you alive at this point. If that gets interrupted too, there isn't a lot you can do. If you get it up, keep hitting Visage so it gets cast as soon as it recharges, then proceed as above.
6. Final point is what to do if for some reason Sandstorm gets interrupted. It happens, and it isn't fatal. You should have Visage up which means they won't be interrupting you for a while, which means you are free to combo 2 & 3 whilst maintaining Stoneflesh and Visage as much as possible. It takes three combos to floor them.
Q: I aggroed the Graspings, and an Aataxe ran after me, so I kept running, and it kept following, until I was pinned in the corner and got wtfpwned
A: Sadly, there is no consistent reason why this happens from my experience. Just curse that Aataxe and try again.
Q: When I was running from A to B I ran past a couple of Aataxes and before I knew it, they had killed me. I wasn't even standing anywhere near them!
A: It's called rubberbanding, or a lag frag, and again, there is not definitive reason for it happening, except you ran really close between two Aataxes or an Aataxe and the wall. Even with 60ms it happens to me, your only recourse is to swear loudly and try again.
Q: Ok, I made it to the Ice Wastes, and I saw some Smites fighting each other/some Coldfires. WTF?
A: Simple answer is that all the mobs in this area are very aggressive, and often if they spawn too close to each other will fight. I know its a shame because that's potentially your ecto being crushed, but there isn't much you can do about it.
Q: I cleared the right-hand side, but there's about 20 Smites at the top of the little hill, what do I do about that?
A: Easiest way would be to kill them all. The build doesn't care how many you aggro at once, you'll be safe as long as you maintain 6, 7, and 8. However, the way I see it, the smaller the group the more drops ergo the higher the chance of one of those shiny pink blobs falling into your hands. So, this is how you deal with it:
Cast Storm Djinn's. Aggro the nearest Smite. With any luck, only one group (3-5 Smites) will be aggroed. More likely, all 20 will be. In this case, TURN ROUND, and run until you lose aggro. As soon as this happens, STOP RUNNING. The Smites should reaggro, and hopefully only one group will do so. If not, try again, eventually you will have separated one group from the mob, and will be able to maximise profit potential. Repeat for however many groups there are.
Q: I aggroed a Coldfire! It hurt!
A: I'd like to think that you knew to not just stand there taking it, but if that much was beyond you, do the following: cast Storm Djinn's and kite. Kite like your life depends on it. Run back to the start of the Ice Wastes if necessary. Note that Kiting is MUCH more important than maintaining Storm Djinn's, as if they can't hit you it doesn't matter how fast you are running. Once they have lost aggro, wait for them to go back to where they came from, and resume farming. Just don't stand in a Maelstrom, they don't like that.
Q: I didn't get any ecto! What a jip!
A: Welcome to the reality of modern day ecto farming. You'll be lucky to average 2 every 3 runs, more like 2 every 4 or 5. Still, even that pays for itself with plenty on top, so stop moaning
That's all for now folks, thanks for reading, hopefully some of your questions will have been answered and you can successfully ecto farm. If you are still having trouble, and you see me in Temple Of Ages, feel free to ask for a run through [IGN: Anna Talaria] (Seriously though, don't go whispering me all day every day, I won't reply and you will be put on my ignore list. ONLY IF YOU SEE ME).
If you have any further questions, answers to other frequently asked ones, or perhaps improvements to my tips, please post below.
