Guardian Moss/Farming

Summary

 * Item: Guardian Mosses
 * Found In: Pongmei Valley, Boreas Seabed, and Maishang Hills.
 * Dropped by: Island Guardians



Farming for Guardian Moss
The Guardian Moss farm is much the same as the Rot Wallow Tusk farm, only more frustrating due to the very low drop rates of the run: the single guardian in each group of 7-8 wallows often fails to drop any item (let alone the desired moss). This might be one of the few Item-of-the-Week farms that is more productive in Hard mode, as the Guardians are perhaps more likely to drop something.

This week is a good time to farm faction (most likely Luxon, but possibly Kurzick); you'll easily earn back the cost of the blessing even during the shortest farm.


 * Suggested Farm #1a/1b: Leave from Boreas Seabed into Pongmei Valley. The map shows 4 groups of Rot Wallows that surround 3 Guardians. If you continue to Maatu Keep, you can find another two groups on the way. Some feel that it's faster to travel back and forth between the two outposts to farm all 5 guardians (Farm #1a); others prefer to tackle only the three closest to Boreas (Farm #1b) to avoid walking the long distance across the zone. Either way, take advantage of the terrain: place rangers and spirits on the tops of hills (spirits have an attack range equal to longbow range). If you set up carefully, your team will be out of aggro range of the guardians and you can fight just the wallows at first. You can then fight the guardians without worrying about their allies.

You can also pull the first group towards the resurrection shrine, taking advantage of the priest's healing and the guard's tanking abilities.


 * Suggested Farm #2: Travel between Eredon Terrace and Bai Paasu Reach. This route is significantly more difficult, as it crosses the path of two Elementalist bosses: Seacrash, a guardian, and Sarss, a naga. It's also a less tedious route than the first, since the foes and landscape vary more. Seacrash can easily be pulled from the surrounding allies; it's dangerous to tackle this guardian alongside the many wallows.


 * Suggested Farm #3: Start at Leviathan Pits and head into Silent Surf, taking on Scourgewind. The wallows run predictable patrols and some can be avoided. Bosses can drop as many as 3-4 items, making them good targets during farming (not to mention the increased likelihood of find a green weapon).

Threats & Recommended Skills

 * General tip: Rot Wallows tend to spam their skills on minions or spirits, ignoring the players.


 * General tip: Wait several minutes after entering the map before starting your farm. While 2 minutes is usually sufficient for most farms, you may want to wait longer before starting your farm, for an increased chance in drops.  Also, try and kill more enemies like the rot wallows while waiting.


 * Tactics: Always pull the wallows away from the Island Guardians. Spike and AoE damage helps since the wallows tend to mob a single target. If possible, start by killing the guardian quickly; if it doesn't drop moss, run from the wallows (they won't follow far) and head to the next group.


 * Threats: Both wallows and guardians can cause knockdown &mdash; the wallows with their critical hits and the guardians with Signet of Judgment &mdash; which the wallows will follow with Fetid Ground to inflict poison. The wallows' Vampiric Bite is a life stealing touch skill that bypasses most protections and is particularly dangerous to a number of standard builds. Weaken Knees causes health degeneration and damage-over-time while moving, making it almost as harmful to run away.


 * Recommended Skills: Knockdown prevention, hex removal, and condition removal/resistance. Alternatively, groups can take interrupts and general anti-caster skills; this might be more useful to those using the second farm.

Solo Farming

 * Typical Permanent Shadow Form builds work well here, with only minor danger from two skills: Signet of Judgment and Vampiric Bite. Neither will present much of a danger in normal mode.


 * Spirit Farmers work extremely well. Spam your spirits just out of range, then use a longbow or flatbow to pull the wallows away from the guardian (even solo novices should be able to handle 3-4 wallows). If you choose to take down the guardian, practice to find the optimal range allowing you to stay outside of aggro distance: with a long- or flatbow, you might need to step closer; with wands/or staves, you might need to step back.


 * A standard 600HP monk or elementalist with either hero or human smiter can also farm the groups easily, since wallows lack enchantment removal and interrupts. However, bring an anti-knockdown skill such as Fleeting Stability or Dwarven Stability because of the automatic knockdown from wallow critical hits; fighting groups without this protection can quickly lead to a knockdown chain and death.


 * An elementalist/dervish using Earth Magic and Earth Prayers can tank for a Spiteful Spirit necromancer. Either role can be managed by a hero. Alternatively, the elementalist can go it alone (although more slowly) by bringing more offensive Earth Magic spells.