Guide to Item of the Week Farming

Guide to Item of the Week Farming
Background: Every week, Nicholas the Traveler requests a different item in exchange for Gifts of the Traveler. These items of the week end up being very valuable for a short period, since the gifts can usually be sold for – (and opening the gifts yields valuable items). Veteran players usually have no trouble farming the item using advanced (although standard) builds and they have access to the ideal farming locations. This guide, however, is designed to help the relatively new player, who has fewer skills and might need to unlock the farming area.

Summary

 * Item: 3 Jungle Troll Tusks
 * Found In: Tangle Root (Maguuma Jungle)
 * Dropped by: Jungle Troll (Reed Bog, Tangle Root, The Falls, Silverwood, Bloodstone Fen, and some of the Maguuma Jungle missions.)

Getting to Nick
Nicholas the Traveler is located in Tangle Root, not far from Henge of Denravi

Farming for Jungle Troll Tusks

 * Suggested Farm #1: Exit from Henge of Denravi and turn right. There is a pop-up of Life Pods and/or Moss Scarabs.  You can either leave them alone or take them out. Continue down the path and you will soon see the first Jungle Trolls. Following the route displayed on the map will bring you past about 30-36 Jungle Trolls. The time of 1 run is about 5-10 minutes (depending on party size) and yields about 4-8 tusks per run (again depending on party size)

Note: L18 Jungle Trolls seem much more likely to drop tusks than do the L14 trolls.

Threats & Recommended Skills

 * Tactics: Jungle Trolls easily ball together, so tanking works well. The trolls will focus their fire on the tank, giving the rest of the party an easy time of unleashing AoE spells to take them out. Some of the troll groups consist of 6 Trolls, so make sure your tank is able to hold that pressure. If not using a tank, a minion master or spirit spammer is recommended. Safety in numbers applies here.


 * Threats: Being overwhelmed is probably the biggest threat. Taking out 2 or 3 trolls should not be a problem to any team, but 6 or 10 trolls can be a problem. Careful pulling prevents this. If you are farming far from outposts, you will might have to contend with other jungle denizens; be sure to bring an appropriate group to deal with the additional threats.


 * Recommended Skills:  Skills that block attacks are very helpful, since all the foes you will face attack in melee. Skills like Aegis, Critical Defenses and Conviction will do just fine. Weakness and Blindness reduces the pressure from the trolls; Enfeebling Blood is a perfect skill for this. Armor of Sanctity is great for the tank, as it causes weakness to all adjacent foes and further reduces the damage taken. To kill the trolls you can take just about anything, as long as you can outdamage their Troll Unguent, you'll be fine. Elementalist nukes like Searing Heat are perfect for the job.

Solo Farming
This is a good week for solo farming, especially for those who haven't tried it before: the monsters are below L20 and do relatively little damage to an L20 character with appropriate Runes and Insignias. Foes also bring fewer, less powerful skills, allowing you to survive any unfortunate choices. Any of the standard skillbars will work (Perma Sin, Spirit Spammer, 55 Monk, etc.). You can also succeed with a variety of well-balanced builds that include self-healing, defensive skills, and either Spike or AoE damage.

Summary

 * Item: 2 Quetzal Crests
 * Found In: Verdant Cascades (Far Shiverpeaks) &amp; Alcazia Tangle (Tarnished Coast)
 * Dropped by: Quetzal

Getting to Nick
Nicholas the Traveler is located in Alcazia Tangle, close to Tarnished Haven (map).

Farming for Quetzal Crests

 * Suggested Farm #1: No Trespassing area in Verdant Cascades near Umbral Grotto. Exit the Outpost, grab the bounty from the Krewe member at the nearby Rez Shrine, and turn south. Head east again, aiming for the No Trespassing sign. (You can wait for the Quetzal to attack the Skelk.) Continue a counter-clockwise circle around the southwest corner of the zone to find 80–100 Quetzal, including the Ranger Boss, Petraj the Evasive. Expected trophies: about 2–5 crests/run per player in a 4-person team (slightly more for soloists, slightly less for 8-person teams).

Threats & Recommended Skills

 * Tactics:Use minions or tanks to get the Quetzal to clump together (for AoE damage) and be sure that they don't do the same to your group, as they can cause some serious spikes to single targets cut off from group heals or defenses. Near the trespassing signs in Verdant Cascades, the Quetzal will attack the Skelk before going after your party; let them do that, allowing you to get the first few attacks. (Minion masters can take advantage of the extra bodies and the corpses of the Asuran patrol.) Remember to pull groups to you so that you don't get ambushed by the various patrols in the area.


 * Threats: The Quetzal present a well-rounded group of Necromancers, Rangers, Mesmers, and Warriors. They can strip enchantments, drain health, cause crippling &amp; bleeding, block, and will interrupt melee skills and attacks.


 * Recommended Skills: As always, a well-balanced party should be able easily farm for crests. To counter threats, bring a Tank, condition removal, and party and individual healing. Melee parties can spike individual targets (generally in the order listed above) while casting-heavy groups can use AoE damage, anti-melee interrupts and slowdowns. Knockdowns are useful for either type of party.

Solo Farming

 * (to be added)

Summary

 * Item: Jade Bracelets
 * Found In: Tahnnakai Temple (explorable),Wajjun Bazaar,Xaquang Skyway
 * Dropped by: Jade Brotherhood

Getting to Nick
Nick can be found standing right next to Imperial Guardsman Yang outside of Zin Ku Corridor in Tahnnakai Temple (explorable).

Farming for Jade Bracelets

 * Suggested Farm #1: Leaving from The Marketplace into Wajjun Bazaar presents several large groups of Jade Brotherhood. There is a Statue of Lyssa located just outside of Wajjun Bazaar that can provide helpful Blessings while farming. The map shows the location of some groups of Jade Brotherhood,green route leads to Lian, Dragon's Petal a powerful Jade Brotherhood elementalist boss and the blue route leads to Shen, the Magistrate.

Threats & Recommended Skills

 * Tactics: Interrupting the elementalist spells is very helpful. Blind is very useful against the Jade Brotherhood Knights


 * Threats: Jade Brotherhood Mages can present some trouble with their Earth Magic spells. When they use Ward Against Foes to slow groups, then follow it with Double Dragon they can do quite a bit of PBAoE damage. If this is followed by the Jade Brotherhood Ritualist using Ancestors' Rage it can form a powerful spike. The Ritualists also use Tranquil Was Tanasen to prevent interruption allowing them to heal the Elementalists and the Jade Brotherhood Knights. The Jade Brotherhood Mesmers use Signet of Disruption to bypass skills like Shadow Form, Obsidian Flesh, and Spell Breaker. In mixed groups they can pose threats to a smaller group.


 * Recommended Skills: Interrupt prevention is strongly advised. Also Anti-KD is helpful against the Mages.

Solo Farming
All the groups on the routes can be farmed by a 600HP Monk with either hero or human Smiter. However, you should bring an anti-interrupt skill such as Mantra of Resolve because the Jade Brotherhood Mesmers can interrupt even through Spell Breaker and may interrupt key skills of your build,resulting in death.If you dont have Spell Breaker you should also consider bringing an anti-knockdown skill such as Dwarven Stability or "I Am Unstoppable!" to prevent knockdowns by Jade Brotherhood Mages. If you have trouble killing the Jade Brotherhood Ritualists you can also bring another damage-dealer with you, like a Spiteful Spirit Necromancer,it will speed up the killing greatly.